So House Republicans have passed and sent to the Senate a budget that includes no funding for the Affordable Care Act, setting up a political showdown that could result in a government shutdown. We wish the GOP luck, since we support the policy if not the strategy. But however this charge into the fixed bayonets turns out, we hope the folks who planned it will take responsibility for what happens now.
That starts with Senators Mike Lee (Utah) and Ted Cruz (Texas), who joined with a handful of conservative groups to force Speaker John Boehner's hand. In July they had vowed to mobilize a grass-roots "army" to support ObamaCare repeal. The legions never arrived, but the activists still insisted that any continuing resolution to fund the government had to zero-out ObamaCare. They recruited a rump minority of the House majority to defeat a budget that would have maintained the automatic spending cuts built into current law.
Messrs. Cruz and Lee have thus got their way, though it's far from clear what they can accomplish. Senate Democrats have said they'll strip the ObamaCare provision and send a budget back to the House, perhaps with higher spending levels. And even Mr. Cruz has already acknowledged he can't do much in the Senate, where Republicans hold only 45 seats.
Review & Outlook: The Cruz Campaign Against ObamaCare - WSJ.com
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