WITH LAWMAKERS AT ODDS OVER CR, GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN LOOMS

From staff reports
GHG Monitor
9/20/2013

Congress inched toward a potential government shutdown this week as Republican leaders in the House of Representatives backtracked on a plan for a mostly “clean” Continuing Resolution, moving instead to attach language defunding President Obama’s Affordable Care Act to legislation that would keep the Department of Energy and other government agencies running on Oct. 1 and beyond. The House approved the new Continuing Resolution late this week, sending it to the Senate, where Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has vowed to oppose it.

‘A Waste of Time’

Controversy in the House CR is centered on a decision by House Republicans to attach language defunding Obamacare. If the House passes the bill, the Senate would take it up early next week. The Senate recessed for the weekend on Sept. 18 and won’t return until Sept. 24—a week before the start of the fiscal year. “In case there is any shred of doubt in my House counterparts, I want to be absolutely crystal clear,” Reid told reporters Sept. 18. “Any bill that defunds Obamacare is dead. It’s a waste of time.”

The White House also voiced its opposition to the bill with a Sept. 18 veto threat. It said the bill “advances a narrow ideological agenda that threatens our economy and the interests of the middle class. The resolution would defund the Affordable Care Act, denying millions of hard-working middle class families the security of affordable health coverage. … The Administration is willing to support a short-term continuing resolution to allow critical Government functions to operate without interruption and looks forward to working with the Congress on appropriations legislation for the remainder of the fiscal year that preserves critical national priorities, protects national security, and makes investments to spur economic growth and job creation for years to come.”