The House passed a short-term spending plan Friday morning that would continue funding government operations through mid-December but withhold funding for President Obama's signature health-care law, firing the opening salvo in what promises to be a contentious 10 days of debate on Capitol Hill over extending government operations by only three months.
The legislation would fund federal agencies at an annualized rate of more than $986 billion but would also leave in place automatic spending cuts known as sequestration, set to take effect in January. It would include language to prohibit any funding going to implementing the health-care law and, additionally, authorize the Treasury to pay some bills and not others in the event that no deal is reached in October on increasing the country's debt limit.
House Republican leaders declared victory Friday after the vote, and they immediately ramped up pressure on the Senate to take up the fight.
"The House has listened to the American people. Now it's time for the United States Senate to listen to them as well," said House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), to raucous applause from Republicans.
The strategy of passing a stopgap budget with language defunding Obamacare, was adopted in recent days by Boehner and ensured the support of a large number of conservatives who have repeatedly criticized his leadership and voted against previous bills he has advanced.
Acknowledging that the proposal to end the health-care law is at the centerpiece of the budget plan, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said the measure must be ended because it "is turning our full-time economy into a part-time economy."
But the Democratic-controlled Senate is expected to move quickly next week to strip the health-care provisions from the bill. Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) said Thursday that any bill that defunds Obamacare "is dead" and "a waste of time" in the Senate.
Lawmakers voted 230 to 189 to approve the funding measure. Two Democrats, Reps. Jim Matheson (Utah) and Mike McIntyre (N.C.), joined with 228 Republicans to approve the plan; one Republican, Rep. Scott Rigell (R-Va.), joined with Democrats.
"This place is a mess," House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said on the House floor before the vote.
"We're not here to expand government, but we're not here to eliminate government," she said later. "If the idea is to limit government, let's work together to do that. But what is brought to the floor today is without a doubt a measure designed to shut down government."
Now that the House has acted, Republicans are relying on a small band of conservative senators to continue the fight next week. The effort is expected to be led by Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah), who said Thursday they would use various procedural tactics to keep up the fight, including a possible filibuster, despite lamenting earlier in the week that there is little hope for the proposal in the Senate.
