Senator Blunt says House Republicans had no chance of killing the Affordable Care Act. He won’t say motivation was bad or that the goal was wrong. But he says he knew the House Republicans’ strategy wouldn’t work. He says it was obvious President Obama would not approve a bill that would kill the signature accomplishment of his presidency. And he says it also was obvious two-thirds of the members of Congress would not approve overriding the veto.
Now he’s afraid the government shutdown could stretch out. “If it doesn’t end in the next couple of days it won’t end until both the debt limit and, at least the relatively intermediate term, funding question is resolved. I think it shouldn’t have happened,” he says.
Blunt says some people think it’s fine that federal employees have been laid off. He says people don’t like government employees until they need one. He says he’s keeping his offices open so people have somebody to call if they have a problem.