House Republicans passed their stopgap funding bill Friday to keep government open while terminating the new health care law, setting up a final showdown next week with Senate Democrats and President Obama who have firmly rejected that.
The 230-189 vote, which split almost exclusively along party lines, is the precursor to the big action next week, when the Senate is expected to strip out the health care provisions and send the bill back to the House — where Republicans will have to decide whether they can accept it at that point.
All sides are racing a Sept. 30 deadline, which is when current government funding runs out. The new measure would fund the government through Dec. 15, essentially at last year’s levels, and would leave the budget sequesters in place.
But Republicans also attached two amendments — one to direct how government spending is prioritized in the event the Treasury Department bumps up against its debt limit, and another that strips out funding for the health care law, which would effectively stop it.
“The evidence is very clear that Obamacare is actively hurting,” said Rep. Lee Terry, Nebraska Republican. Democrats said the bill was an outrage that exposed Republicans’ true intention of trying to force a government shutdown.
“It is a wolf in wolf’s clothing,” said Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat. “Either you don’t know what you’re doing or this is one of the most intentional acts of brutality you’ve cooked up.”
Rep. Nita Lowey, the top Democrat on the House spending committee, said limiting government funding now would prevent federal authorities from being able to help out as Colorado recovers from devastating floods.
They urged the GOP to negotiate with Democrats to raise taxes in order to spend more.
Republicans countered that if they’d wanted to shut down government they wouldn’t have brought any bill to the floor. “We are pragmatists. We know we have to pass bills to fund government. Thus this bill,” said House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers. source washington times
