Third House Continuing Resolution To Take Yet Another Run At Obamacare

Despite having two previous attempts to chip away at the Affordable Care Act rejected by the Senate, House Republican plan to make yet another attempt this evening as the clock winds down to a likely government shutdown:

With just hours to go until the government shuts down, House Republicans will try to pass a bill that would delay the mandate that individuals buy health insurance and would cancel health-insurance subsidies for members of Congress and staff, the president and administration appointees, according to multiple sources.

Those provisions would be attached to a government-funding bill, which will almost certainly be rejected by the Senate, since Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has said he wouldn’t accept changes to Obamacare in the government funding negotiations. On Monday afternoon, the Senate rejected the House’s last government funding bill, which delayed Obamacare for a year and repealed the medical device tax.

The government runs out of money at midnight, and this most recent move all but ensures a shutdown. The plan was announced at a meeting of House Republicans at 2 p.m. Staff was ejected from the meeting.

Not even all Republicans agree with this move. New York Rep. Peter King stood up in a closed party meeting Monday afternoon and said he was opposed to the measure. Alabama Rep. Mo Brooks suggested House Republicans try to add to Obamacare “federal judges that approves this mess,” referring to court rulings approving the Affordable Care Act.

“We’re going to cut our salary by $5,000 to $10,000, but the president should live under Obamacare too,” said Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), one of President Barack Obama’s chief antagonists in the House.

The House Rules Committee will be meeting to begin the process of bringing this new CR to the floor, and that vote should occur sometime after 6pm or 7pm tonight. At the point, it will go to the Senate, which will of course reject it just at it rejected the two previous CR’s. At that point, the question will be what the House does next. A shutdown would then follow immediately at midnight unless the House decides to approve a “clean” CR that doesn’t touch the Affordable Care Act at all. Right now, that doesn’t seem very likely.

One intriguing rumor is that moderate Republicans in the House may stage a revolt of their own, leading to the question of whether there are even enough votes to pass this third CR tonight. If that bill fails, then the ball game in the House may change very rapidly. If it passes, we’ll be back to square one and there may be yet one more run at at CR tonight, or they may just give up.

FILED UNDER: Congress, Deficit and Debt, Healthcare Policy, US Politics, , , , , , , , , , ,
Doug Mataconis
About Doug Mataconis
Doug Mataconis held a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He joined the staff of OTB in May 2010 and contributed a staggering 16,483 posts before his retirement in January 2020. He passed far too young in July 2021.

Comments

  1. David M says:

    The end game involves passing the clean CR from the Senate eventually, either tonight or the next day/week/month.

    The responsible thing to do is to at least vote on it tonight.

  2. Tony W says:

    I have lost count – is this going to be ObamaCare repeal attempt #48 or #49? They really ought to get a new shtick, this one is getting tired.

  3. PJ says:

    “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”

  4. gVOR08 says:

    These guys seem to be slow learners.

  5. al-Ameda says:

    Maybe the Kool Aid will start to take effect soon, and, if we’re lucky, there may be a need to call 230 Special Elections?

  6. legion says:

    @gVOR08: No, actually, these jokers have learned all too well. They know that their fortunes have nothing to do with voters and everything to do with fame and/or keeping certain billionaires happy. I guarantee you that every single one of these Tea Party wack-jobs, from Cruz on down, firmly believes that their long-term career involves being on their own personal Fox News show rather than in elected office…

  7. Scott says:

    would cancel health-insurance subsidies for members of Congress and staff,

    Staff was ejected from the meeting.

    Waiting for the staff to rebel. Will tell them to write their own damn bill, thank you very much!

  8. David M says:

    House Republicans will try to pass a bill that would delay the mandate that individuals buy health insurance and would cancel health-insurance subsidies for members of Congress and staff, the president and administration appointees, according to multiple sources.

    Why do they care about this? It’s a dumb talking point that no sentient person should actually care about for more than 1/2 a second. I think very little of the House GOP, but this makes no sense even for them.

  9. Vast Variety says:

    The house GOP should let the clean bill go up for a vote. If it fails like they seem to think it will then they might have a leg to stand on.

  10. grumpy realist says:

    Anyone starting to think of Pickett’s Charge / The Charge of the Light Brigade / Custer’s Last Stand?

    “…now, if we just combine this from Wishlist A and THIS from Wishlist B….”

  11. Tony W says:

    I have seen countless comments today (on lesser sites, of course) advocating a simple solution – Congressional pay withheld until they resolve the crisis. As if the biweekly paycheck of a congress member has anything to do with why they “serve” in the esteemed body.

    Until these folks watch House of Cards I fear they won’t get it.

  12. al-Ameda says:

    @Tony W:

    I have seen countless comments today (on lesser sites, of course) advocating a simple solution – Congressional pay withheld until they resolve the crisis. As if the biweekly paycheck of a congress member has anything to do with why they “serve” in the esteemed body.

    Basically, these are the same people who think that cutting out foreign aid will solve our budget deficit.

  13. JWH says:

    The “revolt” was Rep. King, Michele Bachmann, and a frisky Schnauzer. Kind of underwhelming.