Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said on Sunday that he opposed President Barack Obama's health care law because a "friend" would have to pay more to insure the employees at his 52 Wendy's restaurants -- but the South Carolina Republican did not offer another solution to provide heath care for the 60 percent of those workers that did not currently have insurance.
Speaking to CBS host Bob Schieffer, Graham admitted that Sen. Ted Cruz (R-SC) had hurt the Republican Party by pushing the government shutdown as a tactic to defund the Affordable Care Act.
"But Ted Cruz can't shut the government down," he added. "What shuts the government down is when the House and the Senate can't agree on a funding number. And our president has been virtually AWOL. This idea, 'I won't negotiate.' The president of the United States needs to get involved with [House Speaker John] Boehner and [Senate Majority Leader Harry] Reid to try to bring us together."
Graham continued: "After this debacle called the shutdown, our party's been hurt, our brand name is at the lowest ever, Obamacare actually got a bump in polling and we got in the way of a disastrous roll-out. So from my point of view, this was a tactical choice that hurt us. But the good news is for the Republican Party is the debacle is over -- if we don't do it again -- and Obamacare is a continuing debacle."
To make his point, the South Carolina Republican told a story of a "friend" who had been personally impacted by the health care law.
"Friend of mine owns 52 Wendy's, he's put pen to paper, he has 40 percent of his workforce insured today," Graham explained. "Under Obamacare, if 20 percent choose insurance, his insurance costs will double. That story is repeating itself throughout the economy. Obamacare is a debacle that will go into 2014."
