Politics
Who will blink first? Obama, Democrats, and Republicans in Gov’t shutdown stare down
The latest House measure, passed early Sunday by a near party-line vote of 231-192, sent back to the Senate two key changes: a one-year delay of key provisions of the health insurance law and repeal of a new tax on medical devices that partially funds it, steps that still go too far for The White House and its Democratic allies on Capitol Hill.
Senate rules often make it difficult to act quickly, but the chamber can act on the House’s latest proposals by simply calling them up and killing them. Eyes were turning to the House for its next move. One of its top leaders vowed the House would not simply give in to Democrats’ demands to pass the Senate’s “clean” funding bill.
“The House will get back together in enough time, send another provision not to shut the government down, but to fund it, and it will have a few other options in there for the Senate to look at again,” said the No. 3 House Republican leader, Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California. “We are not shutting the government down.”
On the other hand, Democrats said the GOP’s bravado may fade as the deadline to avert a shutdown nears. Asked whether he could vote for a “clean” temporary funding bill, Rep. Raul Labrador, R-Idaho, said he couldn’t. But Labrador added, “I think there’s enough people in the Republican Party who are willing to do that. And I think that’s what you’re going to see.”
McCarthy wouldn’t say what changes Republicans might make. He appeared to suggest that a very short-term measure might pass at the last minute, but GOP aides said that was unlikely.
And rumors Saturday night that GOP leaders might include a provision to deny lawmakers and staff aides their employer health care contributions from the government had cooled by Sunday afternoon. Lawmakers and congressional aides are required to purchase health insurance on the Affordable Care Act exchanges, but the administration has taken steps to make sure they continue to receive their 72 percent employer contribution.
Republicans argued that Reid should have convened the Senate on Sunday to act on the measure. “If the Senate stalls until Monday afternoon instead of working today, it would be an act of breathtaking arrogance by the Senate Democratic leadership,” said House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. “They will be deliberately bringing the nation to the brink of a government shutdown.”
