WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator John Boozman (R-AR) today released the following statement on today’s series of votes in the Senate to defund Obamacare and maintain government services for Arkansas veterans, seniors and families:

Boozman on why he voted against the Reid substitute and final passage of the continuing resolution:

“I supported the House-passed bill that accomplishes our goals of keeping the government operating and defunding Obamacare. Avoiding a government shutdown is a good policy that protects hardworking Americans. Unfortunately, the bill was changed by Majority Leader Harry Reid who stripped language to defund Obamacare and I could no longer support it.

This is not the end of our fight. We will continue our efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare with reforms that contain costs. The American people are now seeing how Obamacare is driving up costs beyond belief instead of containing them.

The continuing resolution has gone back to the House where they have the votes to pursue a strategy that can be effective. I believe we can continue this fight with a bill they send back to the Senate that includes provisions such as a one year delay for the individual mandate or an elimination of the Congressional carve-out.”

Boozman on why he voted to support cloture:

“I voted for cloture on the House-passed bill because it defunds Obamacare and keeps the government operating. It defies logic to vote against a bill that you support because it accomplishes our objectives.

Failure to have obtained cloture would have only resulted in a government shutdown. A government shutdown doesn’t repeal Obamacare. Instead, it hurts our military, our seniors and hardworking Arkansans who are dependent on vital government services.

If you had been told anything different would result from voting against cloture, you were being misled.

In this fragile economy, it is simply not fair to hold the American worker, our servicemembers or our seniors hostage over a political strategy that that in the end would not repeal Obamacare. It’s not the right way to run government. It’s why the American people hold Washington in low regard.

I categorically reject the notion that by voting for cloture, you are somehow showing support for the health care law. Again, it makes no sense to vote against a bill you are for. My record on Obamacare speaks for itself. I have been fighting against Obamacare for five years. I voted against Obamacare when I was in the House, have voted to defund and will be the first person in line to support a winning strategy to repeal and replace it. However, forcing a government shutdown over Obamacare is not the right strategy. It won’t end Obamacare, but it will impose pain on hardworking Arkansans.

A government shutdown comes at the expense of our military serving our nation in harm’s way. It slows the Social Security payments for our elderly who count on those checks just to get by. Hospitals and doctors won’t get paid, increasing the likelihood that vital services could be denied. And it hurts millions of families with jobs that depend on government inspectors to show up in order to work. A shutdown threatens our very weak economy, and it would have a negative impact on the savings, pensions and retirement plans for all Arkansans.

Not to mention the threat to our very weak economy and the negative impact that will have on the savings and pension plans of Arkansans. All of this would be the result of Washington’s inaction over a strategy that is doomed from the start.

If President Obama were to receive a continuing resolution that defunded his landmark law, he would veto it. We would need 67 votes in the Senate to override that veto. Simple math shows you that with a Democrat Majority, the numbers are simply not there. There is no end game with this strategy, outside of a government shutdown, which is why I could not support it.”

Boozman on why voted to support the budget point of order on the continuing resolution:

“We have a big spending problem that we must rein in. Under the Budget Control Act spending for FY14 is capped at $967 billion. At $986 billion this bill violated that law.  Additionally, relying on a continuing resolution to fund the government is bad policy. We need to get back to the basics and follow proper procedure of passing a budget resolution and operating within that framework.”