Government Shutdown Looming; Debt Ceiling Fight Building House GOP leaders this time succeeded to garner the necessary votes for their plan to keep the government running after the fiscal year ends on September 30. They re-introduced the same funding package (H.J. Res. 59) with additional language included to defund the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The bill passed the House by a vote of 230 to 189, along partisan lines. H.J. Res 59 keeps funding through December 15 at a funding level of $986.3 billion that assumes a continuation of the across-the-board spending cuts known as sequestration. House Democrats staunchly opposed the $986 billion level as too low and both House and Senate Democrats solidly reject the attempt to defund Obamacare. Further, President Obama has stated that he will veto this bill so it’s a non-starter in the Senate. The Senate leadership hopes to strip the ACA defunding language and send a clean bill back to the House. It’s unclear what the House will do at that point. With no clear end game in sight, only 10 days remaining in the current fiscal year, and concerns that a stopgap funding measure is still in doubt, the White House instructed federal agencies to prepare for a government shutdown beginning October 1. House GOP leaders also announced their plan to introduce a bill next week tying a one-year extension of the debt ceiling to a one-year delay of Obamacare along with cuts to entitlement programs (Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security), language to require tax cuts for individual and corporate tax rates, and other demands. AFSCME strongly opposes any funding bill that sustains sequestration as well as any attempt to weaken, postpone or defund health care reform. (Becky Levin- [email protected])
Posted on: Fri, 20 Sep 2013 23:49:06 +0000
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