Speaker John Boehner has decided to virtually bet the House on thrashing Obamacare in a looming fiscal showdown.
In a bow to conservatives, House Republican leaders facing a Sept. 30 deadline to avoid a government shutdown will hold a vote Friday on a three-month funding bill that would permanently drain funds from the Affordable Care Act. The move -- a gamble that the establishment wing of the GOP decried not so long ago -- nonetheless has unified the conference, according to Republican Whip Kevin McCarthy.
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor also introduced a plan to the conference Wednesday that would lift the debt ceiling (which expires in mid-October) for one year and impose a year-long delay in implementing Obamacare. It also calls for tax reform and federal approval of the Keystone XL crude oil pipeline. “That fight will continue as we negotiate the debt limit with the president and the Senate,” he said. A vote on this part of the GOP strategy is expected as early as next week.
Boehner noted Wednesday that congresses and presidents have long used the debt limit “for legislation to cut spending, and even President Obama worked with us two years ago in the debt limit negotiations to put controls on spending. This year is not going to be any different.”
With time running out and their original plan -- which would have allowed the defunding provision to be tossed out by the Senate -- exhausted, the Republican leaders had to come up with something to address the shutdown threat.
But the House could find itself back at the same place next week. The Democratic-controlled Senate won’t muster the 60 requisite votes for the move to derail President Obama’s signature piece of legislation and authorize $986 billion (extending current sequester levels) in spending. “I want to be very clear: Democrats are not going to agree to defund or delay health care reform. It’s just not going to happen,” said Senate Budget Chair Patty Murray.
Via: Real Clear PoliticsContinue Reading...
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