WISCONSIN NEWS ROUND-UP: Rep. Ribble criticizes GOP strategy

 
WASHINGTON D.C. - A House Republican from northeast Wisconsin calls the federal government shutdown embarrassing and harmful.  Reid Ribble of Sherwood said a shutdown is not the correct strategy to hold up Obamacare.  In his words, "Two wrongs don't make a right." 
 
Still, Ribble refused to stray from the GOP by voting twice since last night to include a one-year delay of most parts of the Affordable Health Care act, in exchange for keeping the government running on this first day of the government's new fiscal year.  Majority Democrats in the Senate have rejected the same measure four times since last Friday.  Their latest vote came this morning, when Democrats refused to name negotiators to strike a deal -- a request House Republicans made around midnight.  House GOP Budget Chairman Paul Ryan of Janesville defended his party's strategy.  He said businesses and Congress itself were given more time to implement Obama-care -- and the purchasing exchanges for uninsured Americans should get the same delay.  Milwaukee House Democrat Gwen Moore says that's no excuse to cut off much-needed funding to feed poor children.  She said one of the shutdown's first targets is the Women, Infants, and Children food-aid program and small business loans.  Moore said it was "childish" to cut off those funds -- and it would send shock waves throughout the economy. 
 
 
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