Sen. Richard Burr: Republicans shutting down govt. over Obamacare is 'the dumbest idea' ever

Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) this week said that a fellow Republican senator's idea to shut down the federal government to block President Barack Obama's health care reform law was the "dumbest idea" he had ever heard.

Earlier this week, Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) told Fox News that he was calling on Republicans to refuse to vote on a continuing resolution to fund the government as a way to prevent further implementation of Obamacare. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) has even suggested that the government should be shutdown unless the Affordable Care Act is "fully" defunded.

"I think it's the dumbest idea I've ever heard," Burr insisted to radio host Todd Zwillich on Thursday. "Listen, as long as Barack Obama is president the Affordable Care Act is gonna be law."

"I think some of these guys need to understand that you shut down the federal government, you better have a specific reason to do it that's achievable," the North Carolina Republican added. "Defunding the Affordable Care Act is not achievable through shutting down the federal government. At some point you're gonna open the federal government back up and he won't have signed this illusion of the Affordable Care Act."

Watch this video from MSNBC's Morning Joe, broadcast July 26, 2013.

(h/t: The Hill)