U.S. House to vote on funding govt through Dec. 15, delaying Obamacare

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U.S. House to vote on funding govt through Dec. 15, delaying Obamacare

(Xinhua) 08:22, September 29, 2013

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WASHINGTON, Sept. 28 -- U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote later Saturday on a short-term government funding bill proposed by Republican leaders to fund the federal government's operations through Dec. 15 and delay the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, for one year.

"The American people don't want a government shut down and they don't want Obamacare. That's why later today, the House will vote on two amendments to the Senate-passed continuing resolution that will keep the government open and stop as much of the president's health care law as possible," U.S. House Speaker John Boehner Saturday said in a joint statement with other GOP leaders.

U.S. Senate Friday passed a continuing resolution, or CR, to fund the federal government's operations from Oct. 1 to Nov. 15, which strips out a controversial provision that would defund Obamacare that was contained in a previous temporary government funding bill passed by the House on Sept. 20.

"The first amendment delays the president's health care law by one year. And the second permanently repeals Obamacare's medical device tax that is sending jobs overseas," noted the statement.

"Both of these amendments will change the date of the Senate CR to December 15th. We will also vote on a measure that ensures our troops get paid, no matter what," said Republican leaders.

If passed by the lower chamber of Congress, it will increase the prospects of a partial government shutdown on Tuesday, as U.S. President Barack Obama and Senate Democrats have vowed to reject any bill delaying or defunding Obama's signature healthcare law passed in 2010.

The 2.3 percent medical device tax, which took effect in January, is levied on manufacturers and importers for sales of medical devices in the nation to fund the implementation of Obamacare.

"Today Republicans in the House of Representatives moved to shut down the government. Congress has two jobs to do: pass budgets and pay the bills it has racked up," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said in a statement on Saturday afternoon.

"Republicans in Congress had the opportunity to pass a routine, simple continuing resolution that keeps the government running for a few more weeks. But instead, Republicans decided they would rather make an ideological point by demanding the sabotage of the health care law," noted Carney.

"Republicans have tried and failed to defund or delay the health care law more than 40 times, and they know this demand is reckless and irresponsible. The President has shown that he is willing to improve the health care law and meet Republicans more than halfway to deal with our fiscal challenges, but he will not do so under threats of a government shutdown that will hurt our economy," Carney added.

（Editor：LiangJun、Yao Chun）