In some circumstances, it could be hard to get people to spend an hour in 90-degree heat on a Friday evening, but around 60 people turned up for an event outside the Lenoir County Courthouse asking national lawmakers to defund the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.
Lenoir County Republican Party Chairwoman Michele Nix said there are a series of steps Congress needs to take to reach the point of defunding the health care law.
“The first step is to ask Congress not to raise the debt ceiling,” Nix said.
Without raising the national debt ceiling, federal spending at the present level becomes hamstrung, and there’s a likely risk of a government shutdown like the one in 1995.
“If they don’t go ahead and raise the debt ceiling, there’s no money,” Nix said.
However, she, speaking for the assembled, didn’t advocate for a shutdown.
“We are not asking for the government to shut down,” Nix said. “We understand there are necessary programs for the running of our government.”
She said what would be preferable is a continuing resolution that would keep the federal government operating, but with an amendment stripping funding from the Affordable Care Act. A proposal in the House, made by Rep. Tom Graves, R-Ga., would do that.
Nix was flanked by five metal chairs — two on her right, with the names of Sens. Richard Burr and Kay Hagan — and three to her left, with the names of Reps. G.K. Butterfield, Walter Jones and Mike McIntyre. Each was invited to attend.
With a nod toward actor Clint Eastwood’s interview of an empty chair at the 2012 Republican National Convention, Nix asked questions of the absentee elected officials.
On her introduction of Burr, a healthy boo came from the crowd, only eclipsed by her following introduction of Hagan.
Burr, when asked of the debt-ceiling tactic, has called it, “the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard of.”
A survey conducted by Republican pollster David Winston on July 31 and Aug. 1 showed a split among Republicans. Those who consider themselves very conservative back the ploy by 63 percent, while those who consider themselves somewhat conservative were against it by 62 percent.
Greg Brannon, campaigning for the Republican nomination to oppose Hagan in the 2014 general election, also spoke to the crowd.
The event drew a counter-protest as well, with about a dozen people in attendance to support the health care law.
David Bell, founder of IndyLeft PAC — a promotions, advertising and consulting firm, not a political action committee — said he was there to support a good thing.
“Some people just aren’t going to be able to afford (health insurance), so it’s good for a choice to be out there,” Bell said. “I’m not going to protest something that’s going to help people.”
The “Defund Obamacare” event was sponsored by the Lenoir County Republican Party and co-hosted by the Republican parties of Duplin, Greene and Pitt counties, as well as the Eastern North Carolina Tea Party.
Wes Wolfe can be reached at 252-559-1075 and Wes.Wolfe@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter @WolfeReports.