Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) discussed his decision to vote against a bill to reopen the government with CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Wednesday night, saying he “would rather keep this [government shutdown] thing going … so we can get something on Obamacare.”
Expressing disappointment in Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential loss and the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to uphold Obamacare as constitutional, King said Republicans “have pitched this fight for a long time … [shutdown] strategy occurred as far back as late June.”
King added that the bill that contrived to reopen the government, extend the debt ceiling and narrowly evade default “has nothing in there for conservatives.”
Despite not having enough votes to defund or delay Obamacare, “if you hold out on this thing … you can get some changes in Obamacare,” King said.
Although numerous polls have indicated that Republicans received a larger portion of the blame for the government shutdown, King believes “[Texas Sen.] Ted Cruz is stronger … Republicans could win the majority in the Senate coming up in the 2014 elections.”
The Iowa lawmaker maintains that one positive outcome of the shutdown was that it helped identify “20 or 30 good, strong conservatives," making it “worth the fight.”
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