Jim Jordan: Any budget deal has to tackle ObamaCare

After pushing to either defund or delay ObamaCare in a short-term government funding measure, some Republicans are now saying the current gridlock is about more than just the healthcare law.

{mosads}Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-Ind.) said this week that Republicans needed to get something out of any deal to end the impasse, before walking back those comments.

But in his Friday interview, Jordan made clear that he’s still pushing for any deal to target the healthcare law.

“We have to get something on ObamaCare, because that — if you want to get this country on a fiscal path to balance, you cannot let an entitlement of this size that will truly bankrupt the country and, more importantly, one that’s not going to help Americans with their healthcare, you can’t let this happen,” Jordan said.

“So it has to be a part of this idea of getting this $17 trillion debt under control.”

Obama and top congressional Democrats, like Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.), have said that they’re willing to negotiate on the healthcare law and broader tax and spending issues, but not as part of negotiations to end the government shutdown or raise the debt limit.

House Republicans are currently pushing a string of targeted spending measures to open up smaller parts of the government — bills that have been rejected by top Senate Democrats.

Republicans have worked to cast Democrats as unwilling to negotiate on reopening the government, at a time when polls suggest they’re taking most of the blame for the shutdown.

Boehner has also briefed some colleagues on the idea of a broad fiscal deal that would work to both end the shutdown and increase the debt limit.

Jordan, meanwhile, told Bloomberg he would have a wait-and-see approach, even as he stressed that Republicans had no interest in a default.

“We want to look at how this whole package gets put together,” Jordan said. “I don’t plan to support anything that doesn’t address the underlying problem.”