Shutdown nearing, GOP seeks health care delay
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| House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, arrives at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2013. Heat is building on balkanized Republicans, who are convening the House this weekend in hopes of preventing a government shutdown but remain under tea party pressure to battle on and use a must-do funding bill to derail all or part of President Barack Obama's health care law. |
WASHINGTON
(AP) -- Locked in a deepening struggle with President Barack Obama, the
Republican-controlled House pushed legislation toward passage Saturday
night imposing a one-year delay on parts of the nation's new health care
law and repealing a tax on medical devices as the price for avoiding a
partial government shutdown in a few days' time.
Senate
Democrats pledged to reject the measure even before the House began
debating it, and the White House issued a statement vowing a veto in any
event. Republicans are pursuing "a narrow ideological agenda ... and
pushing the government towards shutdown," it said.
As
the day wore on, even some Republicans said privately they feared that
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., held the advantage in the
fast-approaching end game. If so, a House GOP rank and file that
includes numerous tea party allies would soon have to choose between
triggering the first partial shutdown in nearly two decades - or coming
away from the confrontation empty-handed.
Undeterred,
House Republicans pressed ahead with their latest attempt to squeeze a
concession from the White House in exchange for letting the government
open for business normally on Tuesday. "Obamacare is based on a
limitless government, bureaucratic arrogance and a disregard of a will
of the people," said Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Ind.
Another
Republican, Rep. Darrell Issa of California, reacted angrily when asked
whether he would eventually support a standalone spending bill if
needed to prevent a shutdown. "How dare you presume a failure? How dare
you? How dare you?" he said.
Apart from its
impact on the health care law, the legislation that House Republicans
decided to back would assure routine funding for government agencies
through Dec. 15. A companion measure headed for approval assures U.S.
troops are paid in the event of a shutdown.
The
government spending measure marked something of a reduction in demands
by House Republicans, who passed legislation several days ago that would
permanently strip the health care law of money while providing funding
for the government.
It also contained
significant concessions from a party that long has criticized the health
care law for imposing numerous government mandates on industry, in some
cases far exceeding what Republicans have been willing to support in
the past. Acknowledging as much, Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., said that
as a conservative he had often found during Obama's presidency that his
choice was "between something bad or (something) horrible."
GOP
aides said that under the legislation headed toward a vote, most
portions of the health law that already have gone into effect would
remain unchanged. That includes requirements for insurance companies to
guarantee coverage for pre-existing conditions and to require children
to be covered on their parents' plans until age 26. It would not change a
part of the law that reduces costs for seniors with high prescription
drug expenses.
One exception would give insurers or others the right not to provide abortion coverage, based on religious or moral objections.
The
measure would delay implementation of a requirement for all individuals
to purchase coverage or face a penalty, and of a separate feature of
the law that will create marketplaces where individuals can shop for
coverage from private insurers.
By repealing
the medical device tax, the GOP measure also would raise deficits - an
irony for a party that won the House majority in 2010 by pledging to get
the nation's finances under control.
The
Senate rejected the most recent House-passed anti-shutdown bill on a
party-line vote of 54-44 Friday, insisting on a straightforward
continuation in government funding without health care-related add-ons.
That left the next step up to the House - with time to avert a partial shutdown growing ever shorter.
For
a moment at least, the revised House proposal papered over a simmering
dispute between Speaker John Boehner and the rest of the leadership, and
tea party conservatives who have been more militant about abolishing
the health law that all Republican lawmakers oppose.
It
was unclear whether members of the rank and file had consulted with
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who has become the face of the "Defund Obamacare"
campaign that tea party organizations are promoting and using as a
fundraising tool.
In debate on the House
floor, Republicans adamantly rejected charges that they seek a
government shutdown, and said their goal is to spare the nation from the
effects of a law they said would cost jobs and reduce the quality of
care. The law is an "attack and an assault on the free enterprise and
the free economy," said Rep. Pete Sessions of Texas.
Democrats
disagreed vociferously. "House Republicans are shutting down the
government. They're doing it intentionally. They're doing it on
purpose," said Rep. Donna Edwards of Maryland, as Republican lawmakers
booed from their seats on the floor.
In the
Senate, there was little doubt that Reid had the votes to block a
one-year delay in the health care program widely known as "Obamacare."
He said the same was true for the repeal of the medical device tax, even
though 33 Democrats joined all Senate Republicans in supporting repeal
on a nonbinding vote earlier in the year.
The
2.3 percent tax, which took effect in January, is imposed on items such
as pacemakers and CT scan machines; eyeglasses, contact lenses, hearing
aids and other items are exempt. Repealing it would cost the government
an estimated $29 billion over the coming decade.
If
lawmakers miss the approaching deadline, a wide range of federal
programs would be affected, from the national parks to the Pentagon.
Some
critical services such patrolling the borders, inspecting meat and
controlling air traffic would continue. Social Security benefits would
be sent and the Medicare and Medicaid health care programs for the
elderly and poor would continue to pay doctors and hospitals.
The
new health insurance exchanges would open Tuesday, a development that's
lent urgency to the drive to use a normally routine stopgap spending
bill to gut implementation of the law.
