This week,
Congress began in earnest the quest to tackle the issues surrounding a
governmental shutdown and funding for the government as we come closer and
closer to the debt ceiling and the time-frame in which Congress can pass the
appropriations necessary to continue working.
As with any other bill or piece of legislation that comes to Congress,
this appropriations proposal was brought before the House of Representatives
prior to being seen in the Senate. This
bill has a major cause of argument among the houses, chiefly the proposal to
altogether stop funding for “Obamacare.”
With the
House of Representatives being the home to a Republican majority and Senate
having a majority of Democrats, it is not hard to pinpoint the issue that has
held up negotiations between the two houses.
The Affordable Care Act, often referred to as Obamacare, has been
championed by a majority of Democrats since its inception on March 23,
2010. In accordance with this,
Republicans, as can be expected, have overwhelmingly opposed this act and are
trying to use the looming debt ceiling as a way to finally overthrow what they
deem to be an unpopular act. According
to the Speaker of the House, John Boehner:
“You’ve got
businesses all over the country who are not hiring because of the impact of
this law. You’ve got other businesses
who are reducing hours for their employees because of this law. And so, our message to the United States
Senate is real simple, the American people don’t want the American government
to shutdown and they don’t want Obamacare.”
Even with
this staunch opposition from Republicans, there was plenty of support for
Obamacare in the House. Democrats, while
not the majority, still put up a fight for their healthcare reforms, losing the
battle 230-189. With this result in
mind, the numbers for voting among the parties were split exactly how one would
expect, with party members voting almost strictly in line with their party’s
stance. In addition, expecting a tough
run towards preserving Obamacare, the Democrats have been in motion for
rallying support for their party and cause, with the Democratic Congressional Campaign
Committee emailing people asking for contributions both monetarily and
non-money related.
Even though
this bill has made it through the House of Representatives, majority leaders
from the Senate (where the Democrats hold power) have been staunch opponents of
defunding Obamacare. Senate majority
leader Harry Reid has been quoted as saying:
“Republicans are simply postponing
for a few days the inevitable choice they must face: pass a clean bill to fund
the government or force a shutdown. I
have said it before, but it seems to bear repeating: the Senate will not pass
any bill that defunds or delays Obamacare.”
Both houses
of Congress were extraordinarily busy this week. While still having to deal with issues
relating to Syria, they had to really push for legislation domestically. The main point of emphasis this week in
Congress centered around a new appropriations bill for the government and the
potential defunding of Obamacare, as proposed by a Republican-led House of
Representatives. While a bill managed to
get out of the House, it has been vowed to be defeated in the Senate by the
Democratic majority leader in that house.
This will position all of Congress for a huge debate and a very
important week leading up through the reaching of the debt ceiling on October
1.
Sources:
http://theweekincongress.com/2013/09/19/h-j-res-59-continuing-appropriations-resolution-2014/
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/22/us-usa-fiscal-congress-idUSBRE98L0FE20130922
http://www.goupstate.com/article/20130922/WIRE/130929958?p=3&tc=pg&tc=ar
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