Tea party conservatives push Senate GOP for full ACA repeal
As Senate Republicans wrestle with their path forward on repealing Obamacare, the GOP's grassroots is increasing pressure on wavering senators to make sure the law is killed.
"Our supporters want repeal of Obamacare," Tea Party Patriots co-founder Jenny Beth Martin told CBS News Chief Political Correspondent Major Garrett and CBS News Political Director Steve Chaggaris on this week's episode of "The Takeout."
And, unlike many lawmakers, tea party supporters seem to be unconcerned about what might replace Obamacare, should the Senate manage to rescind the law. At this point, after Mitch McConnell has so far been unable to come up with 50 Senate votes for a repeal, the tea party is getting nervous about whether the Senate can deliver.
"I want the Senate Republicans at the very least, the very least, to pass the 2015 repeal bill," Martin demanded. Repeal the main focus for the supporters of her group.
"They care far more about repeal than they do about replace," Martin said. "They've lost their doctors. Their insurance costs have gone up. The quality of the health care they have has been affected." Ninety-eight percent of her group's supporters want the repeal, Martin said.
Opposition to Obamacare, which Martin said has united the tea party since the law was signed by former President Obama in 2010, continues, even as public support for it has increased.
"They understand that the government control that we saw under President Obama has affected them very personally and very deeply and they want it gone," she said.
If, after seven years of promises, Republicans fail to repeal the Affordable Care Act, the GOP opponents of the bill can expect to lose their conservative supporters.
"They are very angry, they want to see the people who do not vote to repeal Obamacare, they want to see primary challenges to them, they don't want these people in office anymore," Martin said.
For more from Major and Steve's conversation with Jenny Beth Martin, download this week's podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, or Spotify. Also, you can watch this week's episode on CBSN Friday and Saturday nights at 9pm ET/PT. New episodes are available via podcast every Friday morning.
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Produced by: Arden Farhi and Katiana Krawchenko
