WATCH: Obama says Republicans are holding economy 'hostage'

President Obama said the GOP was to blame for the government shutdown Tuesday, speaking from the White House Rose Garden.

President Barack Obama, accompanied by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, and people who support the Affordable Care Act, his signature...
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President Obama said the GOP was to blame for the government shutdown Tuesday, speaking from the White House Rose Garden.

He said the shutdown “did not have to happen,” and was a result of the GOP’s “ideological crusade to deny affordable health insurance to millions of Americans.”

Watch Obama's remarks in the video above.