House Speaker John Boehner assured his Republican caucus last night that the House will continue its bid to stop implementation of President Barack Obama’s health-care law, while not addressing a push from some in his party to simply not fund the measure.
Boehner also told lawmakers on a telephone conference call that deep, across-the-board government spending cuts, known as sequestration, will stay in place until Obama proposes a replacement package, according to a person who was on the line and wasn’t authorized to speak publicly about it.
Congressional Republicans and the Obama administration are gearing up for battles starting in early September over the annual federal budget, the health-care law and the nation’s debt limit -- with the threat of a government shutdown and a downgrade of the U.S. credit rating looming over the disputes.
Eighty House Republicans, out of 233, have signed a letter urging their leadership to support efforts to withhold money for the health-care law -- Obama’s signature domestic policy achievement in his first term -- from the must-pass stopgap measure to keep the government running after Oct. 1.
Boehner, of Ohio, and his leadership lieutenants have made no final decisions on whether to support the defunding as part of the stopgap funding measure or through some other means, such as the debt-limit debate. The decision they make on that issue will affect deliberations on government funding, as well as the need to increase the debt limit later this fall.
On the sequestration issue, Boehner portrayed Obama as desperate to replace the automatic cuts, according to the person on the call.
Tax Dispute
Republicans have consistently opposed Obama’s push for tax increases to replace parts of about $1 trillion in automatic cuts which started March 1 and are to continue over the next decade. The sequestration was agreed to by the president and Congress in 2011 to resolve that year’s dispute on raising the debt limit, and Treasury Department officials say the next increase in the nation’s borrowing authority will be needed during the fall.
When lawmakers return to Washington on Sept. 9 after a five-week recess, their first task will be to negotiate a 60-to-90-day stopgap measure to fund the government for the start of the fiscal year on Oct. 1. The legislation is expected to continue this year’s funding level of $988 billion -- a move that would gain enough bipartisan votes to pass both the House and Senate.
On the call, Boehner told lawmakers that he wanted the House to move quickly on approving the stopgap measure and confirmed that it would continue the current spending levels.
Chipping Away
On the health-care law, Boehner said the House will hold votes aimed at chipping away at the support from Democrats that’s helping the president to keep the 2010 law in place.
In bills that passed the House in July to delay two of the law’s main provisions, 35 Democrats voted with the Republican majority to delay the so-called employer mandate and 22 voted to postpone the so-called individual mandate. Democrats who control the Senate have declined to bring up either bill.
The White House announced on July 3 that it would postpone for a year the employer mandate, which requires companies with 50 or more workers to provide health insurance to employees. The administration is moving ahead, though, with implementation of the individual mandate, which requires most Americans to carry health insurance.
The administration in the past has threatened to veto legislation that would withhold money for carrying out the measure, raising the specter of a government shutdown if congressional Republicans insisted on such a provision in legislation to finance the entire government.
Congressional Republicans are divided on the political wisdom of threatening a government shutdown over the issue. North Carolina’s Republican Senator Richard Burr has called it “the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard of.”
Since Republicans took control of the House in 2011, the chamber has voted 40 times to repeal or revise the health-care law.
To contact the reporter on this story: Roxana Tiron in Washington at rtiron@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jodi Schneider at jschneider50@bloomberg.net
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