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Lee: Democratic Position on Shutdown 'Not Defensible'

Sen. Mike Lee (R., Utah) took Democrats to task on America's Newsroom Monday, calling their position of refusing to fund the government at all if Obamacare was not in the mix "not defensible" and a stubborn strategy the American people would oppose:

PETER KING: This was a strategy doomed to failure. And Ted Cruz has now walked away from it. Now he's saying we should negotiate on the debt limit which is what we should have been doing for the last month. That's where the real negotiation is, not on this strategy that was doomed to failure.

BILL HEMMER: There's a lot to go through here. First, was it doomed to failure? What would you say to your Republican colleague?

MIKE LEE: He's mistaken. Look, I respectfully but forcefully disagree with Rep. King. He's just plain wrong. This is an important strategy. This is something we've got to do to protect the American people. I keep asking the question. How many more people are going to have to lose their jobs? How many people are going to have to have their hours cut or their wages slashed or lose access to their health insurance before Congress acts to protect the American people from the harmful effects of Obamacare. So he's just wrong. The position taken by the Democrats at this point is simply unsustainable. I want to applaud Speaker Boehner and Majority Leader Cantor and the other House Republicans who have stood with them in protecting the people from the harmful effects of Obamacare. They've stood strong on this issue, and the position taken by the Democrats is not defensible. What they're saying is unless you fund everything in government, including Obamacare, we will not let you fund anything. That's crazy. The American people know it's crazy. and it's not going to work.