In shutdown blame game, tea party points finger back at Obama

As the federal government began shutting nonessential services, critics blamed Republicans in the House of Representatives for catering to the demands of their tea party constituents. The United States is in this mess, they argue, because of attempts by tea party Republicans to link a Continuing Resolution (CR) to fund the government to a repeal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), a key provision of which went into effect on Tuesday.

Several tea party-affiliated groups fought back against those claims, expressing regret for the federal shutdown while placing the blame squarely on the shoulders of President Barack Obama.

“Prior to the budget battle, the Obama administration has changed or delayed numerous aspects of the law,” said Levi Russell, spokesperson for Americans for Prosperity, a conservative group with tea party ties. “Now they’ve dug in their heels. The other side has not shown any willingness to negotiate. They’ve lost the moral high ground. This shutdown is the president’s shutdown.”

The Obama administration announced in July that it would delay until 2015 the requirement that employers with more than 50 employees provide health insurance to their workers. The administration postponed implementation of the provision, originally scheduled to go into effect on January 1, 2014, after employers raised concerns about its difficulties.

Last week, the Obama administration also said it was delaying enrollment in the ACA for small businesses. Online enrollment for small businesses was not available Tuesday, as originally scheduled, the Health and Human Services Department announced. Instead, small businesses will have to wait until sometime in November. Employers will still be able to sign up by mail starting October 1.

Tea party Republicans have seized on the delays to argue that Obamacare - the moniker given to the health-care-reform law - is doomed to fail.

“It’s a horrible law -- it’s unworkable,” said Barney Keller, spokesman for Club for Growth, a tea party-affiliated group. “The president has already exempted large corporations from Obamacare’s employer mandate. He should do the same for individuals.”

Rep. Steve King (R-IA) expressed a similar sentiment in a tweet Friday. "Why are some Senate R's afraid to vote against cloture? #DeFundObamaCare! We will recover from an Obama imposed shutdown-never from O'Care!"

Rep. Tom Graves (R-GA) seized on the opportunity to rally support for more delays. "House GOP is united around a very reasonable policy: POTUS should give families the same #Obamacare delay he gave to businesses #Fairness," he tweeted.

In July, 35 Democrats broke with party leaders and joined House Republicans in voting to delay core provisions of the health care law. Additionally, 22 Democrats voted to postpone the health care requirement for individuals.

On Monday, Obama assailed tea-party Republicans for tying conditions to the ACA to passage of the federal spending bill, calling the move the “height of irresponsibility.”

"One faction of one party in one house of Congress in one branch of government doesn’t get to shut down the entire government," he told reporters at the White House. "You don’t get to extract a ransom for doing your job."

Gregg Levine and Lisa De Bode contributed to this report