The Oklahoman’s Chris Casteel reports from Washington that Senator Jim Inhofe is doing a slow burn over charges hurled at him:
The Tea Party Patriots, which has been heavily involved in the effort to defund Obamacare through a must-pass spending bill, has been sponsoring robocalls in Oklahoma saying that Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Tulsa, plans to vote to advance that bill so Democrats can strip out the Obamacare language.
The group is wrong, Inhofe says.
Inhofe was one of the original backers of Sens. Ted Cruz, R-TX, and Mike Lee, R-UT, in their effort to use the spending bill to block Obamacare.
The Senate’s complex rules and procedures have actually put Cruz and Lee in the position this week of opposing a vote to advance a bill they actually support. It is a situation that has divided Republicans and prompted Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Muskogee, to call it a farce.
But Inhofe said he plans to vote with Cruz and Lee on Wednesday to prevent the bill from advancing and he criticized the Tea Party Patriots for misstating his position.
He said, “You have heard or are going to hear from a group making automated phone calls in Oklahoma implying that I will be voting to fund ObamaCare. This is wrong. Let me assure you that I will be voting this week to defund ObamaCare with my friend Sen. Ted Cruz in his current efforts in the Senate. Now is our opportunity to deal with this disastrous law, and this law has got to go. I have been clear on my position on ObamaCare from the beginning, and it is a shame that an organization would seek to raise money with my name and a false accusation.”
