U.S. House Speaker Boehner urges Senate to pass emergency funding bill

Email|Print|Comments       twitter     facebook     Sina Microblog     reddit    

WASHINGTON, Sept. 29 -- U.S. House Speaker John Boehner on Sunday urged the Senate to take action in a timely manner and pass a stopgap government funding bill in order to avert the first partial government shutdown since 1996.

"If the Senate stalls until Monday afternoon instead of working today, it would be an act of breathtaking arrogance by the Senate Democratic leadership," Boehner said in a statement.

The House of Representatives voted in the early hours on Sunday to pass a short-term government funding bill proposed by Boehner and other Republican leaders to fund the federal government's operations from Oct. 1 through Dec. 15 and delay the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), commonly known as Obamacare, for one year.

The bill passed by the lower chamber of Congress also contained a repeal of the medical device tax in the ACA to fund Obamacare and a measure ensuring service members to get paid in the event of a government shutdown.

"They will be deliberately bringing the nation to the brink of a government shutdown for the sake of raising taxes on seniors' pacemakers and children's hearing aids and plowing ahead with the train wreck that is the president's health care law. The American people will not stand for it," Boehner said.

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.

After the House vote, the road to avoid a possible government shutdown has become tougher. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat, has insisted the upper chamber would rejected any bill derailing Obamacare. White House has also voiced its opposition. The Senate is scheduled not to be in session until Monday afternoon.

• U.S. House to vote on funding govt through Dec. 15, delaying Obamacare
• Chinese student killed in U.S.
• Obama urges House Republicans to approve funding bill, avert debt default
• Russian diplomat accuses U.S. of promoting "illogical" UNSC resolution
• U.S. welcomes UN report on Syria as Russia warns against hasty conclusions
• U.S. keeps military threat open as UN receives report on Syrian chemical weapons
• News Analysis: Still living in shadow of Iraq conflict, U.S. public may not back Obama's Syria strike
• U.S. begins delivering weapons to Syrian rebels: report
• U.S. to start work on missile defense system in Romania in October
• U.S. clears first hurdle for military act against Syria as int'l community push for political solution

We Recommend

• Storms leave 97 dead, 58 missing in Mexico
• New model of indigenous surface-to-air missiles testfired
  
• 118.28-carat diamond to be auctioned in HK
• Maternal love under streetlight
• Naked foreign student sits in the middle of a road in Haikou
  
• Colorful Yunnan: Enjoy the natural beauty
  
• Harbin named Chinese city with most beautiful women
• For last four students, teacher couple sticks to post on island
• When big sport stars were kids