WASHINGTON, July 28 (UPI) -- U.S. Sen. Mike Lee of Utah Sunday defended his efforts to block funding for President Barack Obama's healthcare reforms.
"The fact is that Americans, by a margin of about 2-1, believe that this law will make their healthcare situation worse, not better," the Republican senator said on "Fox News Sunday." "Only 12 percent support the individual mandate. Businesses don't like it. Individuals hate it. Union leaders say it will be bad for workers. And even the law's principal author in the Senate describes it as a train wreck.
"The law is bad. The law is certainly not ready to implement and we shouldn't fund it."
Lee said he believes that because Obama is not yet prepared to enforce the law, it should not receive funding.
"There are many of us who were elected specifically with this mandate, that we've got to stop this law," Lee said. "We have an even stronger reason to [do] that now because the president has said he is not going to enforce it. He is not ready to enforce. And so, he is going to selectively implement the law."
Lee said his position is that if the president isn't ready to put the law into effect, then it's not ready for prime time and Congress shouldn't fund it.
