WASHINGTON – On Sunday, House Republicans approved a spending plan that delays Obamacare for a year and repeals a tax on medical devices.
Speaker of the House John Boehner praised the move Sunday, saying that “The House has again passed a plan that reflects the American people’s desire to keep the government running and stop the president’s health care law. Repealing the medical device tax will save jobs and delaying the president’s health care law for all Americans is only fair given the exemptions the White House has granted to big businesses and insurance companies.”
The spending plan now goes to the Senate – which is controlled by Democrats – making passage of the plan unlikely.
Even so, Boehner remained defiant.
“Now that the House has again acted, it’s up to the Senate to pass this bill without delay to stop a government shutdown. Let’s get this done.”
The White House slammed the move by House Republicans.
“Today Republicans in the House of Representatives moved to shut down the government,” the White House said in a statement. “Congress has two jobs to do: pass budgets and pay the bills it has racked up. Republicans in Congress had the opportunity to pass a routine, simple continuing resolution that keeps the government running for a few more weeks. But instead, Republicans decided they would rather make an ideological point by demanding the sabotage of the health care law. Republicans have tried and failed to defund or delay the health care law more than 40 times, and they know this demand is reckless and irresponsible. The President has shown that he is willing to improve the health care law and meet Republicans more than halfway to deal with our fiscal challenges, but he will not do so under threats of a government shutdown that will hurt our economy. Any member of the Republican Party who votes for this bill is voting for a shutdown. It’s time for the House to listen to the American people and act, as the Senate has, in a reasonable way to pass a bill that keeps the government running and move on.”
On Friday, the Democratically-controlled Senate approved a temporary spending plan that would avoid a government shutdown next week. The move restored funding for Obamacare and sent the measure back to the House, where Republicans run the show. Now the Senate must again act.
A temporary spending measure passed by Congress would avert a government shut down on a short-term basis. Political analysts said Sunday that the latest Republican political tactic of delaying Obamacare is an attempt to force President Obama to negotiate on the health care law.
