Michael Steele: GOP Must Put Forth Own Agenda

Michael Steele, former chairman of the Republican National Committee, says the GOP has succeeded in raising awareness of the flawed Obamacare website and pointing to broken promises made by President Barack Obama.

But the party hasn't accomplished much toward pushing its own agenda, he said.

With only eight working days left in 2013, GOP members of Congress will have to focus their efforts on 2014, Steele said Monday on MSNBC's "Martin Bashir."

"They're going to have to look back and go to their constituencies and account for that," Steele said.

"Yes, there's been a lot of noise around Obamacare and its launch in October, and the failures that flowed from that," Steele said, adding that he still thinks the opportunity exists for Republicans to put "some real substantive policy on the table."

The question, he said, is whether they take advantage of the opportunity, as the federal budget, the sequester, and other issues compete with a Republican "death watch" and a Democratic "hopeful watch" over Obamacare implementation.

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