Harry Reid Lashes Out at 'Radical' Senate Republicans: 'We're Not Going to Bow to Tea Party Anarchists

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Monday branded his Republican colleagues who seek to defund Obamacare as "tea party anarchists," who are both "radical" and "fanatics," in a blistering monologue on the Senate floor.

“We’re not going to bow to tea party anarchists who deny the mere fact that Obamacare is the law," Reid said. "We will not bow to tea party anarchists who refuse to accept that the Supreme Court ruled that Obamacare is constitutional."

“The simple fact remains — Obamacare is the law of the land and will remain the law of the land as long as Barack Obama is president of the United States and as long as I’m Senate majority leader," he added.

The federal government is set to run out of money, unless Congress acts quickly to pass a continuing resolution bill. House Republicans on Friday passed legislation that keeps the government running, but defunds President Barack Obama's signature healthcare law.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speaks to reporters as he leaves the floor of the Senate after skirmishing with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., over the Affordable Care Act, popularly know as Obamacare, at the Capitol in Washington, Monday, Sept. 23, 2013. (Credit: AP)

If Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid reinserts the funding now that the bill has reached the Senate, which he most likely will, some Republicans have threatened filibuster it.

“Anticipating the likelihood that Senator Reid will strip the crucial defunding language, it may be necessary to oppose cloture to block him from changing the bill,” Cruz’s communication director, Sean Rushton, said in a statement Friday night about a possible filibuster.

“We’ll use any procedural means necessary to protect the House bill and keep debate open, standing guard against any attempt to reduce this opportunity to another show vote,” Rushton added.

“Senator Reid must not be allowed to add Obamacare funding back into the House-passed bill,” he continued.

Obama said in his weekly address Saturday that failure to raise the debt ceiling and pass a budget would result in a list of consequences, including the disruption of military pay.

“The government will shut down. So will many services the American people will expect,” Obama said, speaking of the consequences he says the country will suffer if Congress can’t come to an agreement on a continuing resolution bill. “Military personnel, including those deployed overseas, won’t get their paychecks on time.”

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