CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Government Shutdown and Affordable Care Act

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REP. TIM HUELSKAMP (R), KANSAS: You bet, Wolf. My pleasure.

BLITZER: So, well, assuming it gets a bipartisan, lopsided majority in the Senate -- which we anticipate it will get now that Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, is on board and so many other Republicans in the Senate are on board -- once it comes to the House, the speaker, John Boehner, says it will come up for a vote, a yea or nay vote, as passed by the Senate, he hopes as many Republicans as possible vote for it.

How will you vote?

HUELSKAMP: I will be voting against the deal.

Washington, D.C., didn't listen to the American people, and we didn't do a single thing about Obamacare, and it is continuing to hurt Kansans in particular.

BLITZER: But don't you think that folks in Kansas and indeed all over the country would be much more severely hurt if the U.S. were to default on its obligations, whether overseas financial obligations, or unable to make payments to veterans, Social Security recipients, and others?

HUELSKAMP: Well, fear-mongering coming out of the White House doesn't make it true.

At the end of close of business yesterday, there were significant, tens of billions of dollars of cash on hand at the Treasury. That's from Lew himself. The White House today said, oh, by the way, we really didn't mean the 17th. We meant the 18th.

Joe Biden in 2011, August 21, says, there's not going to be a default. The reality is, though, we are ignoring the basic problem, is, people don't like Obamacare and they don't like massive deficits. And this agreement locks that in for another three months.

BLITZER: I don't if you saw this latest report that just was released by Standard & Poor's, the rating service.

They say this 16-day government shutdown already has cost the U.S. economy, in their estimate, $24 billion, $24 billion. That's a lot of money.

(CROSSTALK)

HUELSKAMP: They have no idea, Wolf. Those are made-up numbers.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Why are they made up? This is a respected economic forecasting firm.

HUELSKAMP: Department of Labor hasn't put out any figures for two- and-a-half weeks now. The Treasury isn't even full strength to put out those numbers. It's not good to have a shutdown.

BLITZER: They can't put out those numbers because those parts of the Department of Treasury has been shut down.

HUELSKAMP: Yes, exactly, because Harry Reid and the president of the United States said they were going to shut the government down.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: But you don't believe economists on the outside, what they're saying, respected economists?

HUELSKAMP: No, what I disagree with is the idea that Washington can exempt themselves from Obamacare.

And that's the issue here. And the rest of America has to get stuck with it. I just had an e-mail from a constituent named Nicole. Her premiums for her family are going up $446 a month. Washington couldn't care less about Nicole. That's who I'm fighting for. I'm not worried about S&P. I'm not worried about this default threat from the White House.

I'm worried about average Americans who are not being listened to by the Washington, D.C., establishment.

BLITZER: But if you don't have the votes -- and you clearly didn't have the votes in the Senate -- and, even if you did, the president would veto it, you would need a two-third override.

So many themselves Republicans say, why drag this into a non-win situation? Let me read to you what Grover Norquist said today. He's a conservative. You probably know him, president of the Americans for Tax Reform.

He said this. He said: "I think if you make a mistake as big as what they did," referring to House Republicans, you owe your fellow senators and congressmen a big apology and your constituents as well, because nothing they did advanced the cause of repealing or dismantling Obamacare."

So, what do you say to Grover Norquist?

HUELSKAMP: Well, I haven't read his statement. I appreciate hearing that.

But Grover's inside the Beltway. He needs to go out, as with all these U.S. senators, particularly folks like John McCain that spend more time beating up conservative senators than they do taking on Obamacare. At the end of the day, Obamacare is bad for America. Washington, D.C., exempted themselves. U.S. senators still do not have to be on Obamacare.

Neither do members of the House, Kathleen Sebelius said. That's a real issue here. I wouldn't want to be Mark Pryor and go home and say, I want to let you know I still get to keep my gold-plated congressional health care plan to his voters, and that is going to be a real issue this spring and fall, in my opinion.

BLITZER: Do you still have confidence in the speaker of the House?

HUELSKAMP: Well, I think he actually did a pretty darn good job.

But the problem was, there's 20 or 30 or 40 moderates who didn't want to fight on anything. They're just like every other Republican. They went home and said they're going to fight Obamacare. Then they go into the conference every day and whine about the debate and the battle. And you know what? Washington is a big town. People can disagree, but don't tell the constituents you're opposed to Obamacare and then be like John McCain and attack those who actually are working against it.

We have differences of opinions, but there's a battle on. And whether Washington, D.C., is going to listen, I was disappointed. The Washington, D.C., establishment won this round, but at the end of the day, I really believe conservatives are going to win this war.

BLITZER: Well, the war could go on for years, as far as Obamacare is concerned. And the only way you will get it repealed or rejected is if you have decisive majorities in the House and Senate, and you win the White House in 2016.

You're not going to get the president to go along with any major changes while he's in office.

HUELSKAMP: The president has already agreed to major changes. He's exempted big businesses.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: But he made those changes on his own. He didn't make those as a result of what you asked for.

HUELSKAMP: Exactly, which means he didn't like Obamacare as it passed.

I think there's a possibility that, when this thing clears, the president of the United States is going to delay the individual mandate. He's delayed it for big businesses, labor unions. Take your pick. If you're a special interest, you get a delay. The rest of the Americans, they say, hey, how about us? Washington, D.C., doesn't get that yet.

That's why I think, at end of the day, we're going to win this war. And that doesn't mean it's going to happen necessarily through legislation. But through public pressure, people like Nicole, who says, you know what, I can't afford another $446 a month for this reckless plan that was put together by liberal Democrats.

BLITZER: Congressman Huelskamp, thanks for coming in.

HUELSKAMP: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: We will see what time this vote happens on the House floor following the Senate vote.

Remember, you can always following what's going on here in THE SITUATION ROOM on Twitter. Tweet me @WolfBlitzer.

That's all time I have right now.

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