U.S. Gov’t shutdown update: Republicans on verge of conceding to Obama

U.S. President Barack Obama. PHOTO/File

The Republicans, particularly in the House, pushed for a government shutdown and then threatened not to increase the federal debt ceiling unless the Obama administration agreed to major changes to the president’s health care law (“Obamacare”).

But under the agreement emerging on Capitol Hill this week, congressional Republicans will fall far short of their aims. Senate leaders of both parties are considering a deal to end the shutdown and increase the federal debt ceiling that would include only minor tweaks to the health care law, such as requiring the Department of Health and Human Services to make greater efforts to verify the income of people who qualify for subsidies for cheaper health insurance under the law.

Republican provisions to defund the law, delay its implementation for a year, or strip out the “individual mandate,” all moves that would have given conservatives major victories and crippled the “Affordable Care Act,” will not be in the final agreement. The government would be funded until next January and the debt ceiling hiked till next February, putting off another round of these perennial Washington fights until after Christmas.

Read more: The Grio