Prez: Government Shutdown Won’t Stop Obamacare

Tells Republicans it's not up for debate

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President Barack Obama said Saturday that his signature health care reform law will move forward next week even in the event of a government shutdown.

Obama, in his weekly Internet and radio address, said the so-called exchanges where Americans will be able to comparison shop for health insurance will open Tuesday as planned. Congressional Republicans have been trying to use the looming expiration of government funding to strip funding from and otherwise gut the law. But Obama reiterated that neither the threat of a government shutdown nor the looming need to increase the debt limit put the health care law up for debate again.

“No one gets to threaten the full faith and credit of the United States of America just to extract ideological concessions,” Obama said. “No one gets to hurt our economy and millions of innocent people just because there are a couple laws you don’t like.”

Obama said he wants the public’s help in getting the word out about the exchanges.

Washington Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, giving the Republicans’ weekly address Saturday, said Obama wants to “take the easy way out” by raising the debt ceiling without cutting spending.