WASHINGTON - Arkansas’ four congressmen, all Republicans, voted late Saturday for legislation that would temporarily fund the federal government but also delay implementation of the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
The House voted 231-192 to approve the continuingresolution shortly before midnight CDT. It was amended to delay for one year all parts of the health-care law known as Obamacare that haven’t gone into effect yet.
It would also repeal a 2.3 percent tax on the revenue of medical-device manufacturers.
The plan was widely considered a nonstarter amongSenate Democrats and President Barack Obama. The White House said Saturday that Obama would veto it if it reached his desk. Some Senate Democrats, however, signaled that they would consider repealing the tax on makers of medical devices.
If the House and Senate cannot reach a deal by Monday at midnight Washington time, the federal government will not have the authority to spend money, and many federal agencies will shut down.
Some federal benefits that are not subject to annual approval, like Social Security payments, are expected to continue, but new applications for benefits would not be processed until the shutdown ended.
When discussions began early Saturday evening, about 150 tourists watched the proceedings from the House gallery. By 9:30 p.m. CDT, fewer than 40 remained. And if the government shuts down, there will be no spectators to watch the House and Senate negotiate a solution because tours of the Capitol will stop.
In a statement Saturday afternoon, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid called the House vote pointless, saying discussions about the future of the health-care law are better suited for another time and shouldn’t be tied to a government shutdown.
“We continue to be willing to debate these issues in a calm and rational atmosphere, but the American people will not be extorted by Tea Party anarchists,” he said.
U.S. Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark., said the legislation is the best chance of the GOP reaching a consensus with Democrats, though he acknowledged that he doesn’t expect it to work.
“If there is any hope at all for the other side to come to agreement, it would be on those provisions,” he said, referring to the year delay of the health-care law and repealing the tax on makers of medical devices. “I don’t think they aregoing to, but I like our response.
“The other side is so hellbent on protecting the president’s signature piece of legislation that they are willing to impose something on this country, they are willing to risk the known hardships that Obamacare is going to put on America.”
He said the competing House and Senate plans have made for a game of hot potato.
The House plan would delay funding the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and fund the government, he said, and the Senate plan would simply fund the government temporarily.
“Somebody’s going to be left holding the potato,” he said.
U.S. Rep. Tim Griffin, R-Ark., said he thought that some Senate Democrats could accept delaying the health-care law instead of defunding it, something the House initially proposed. The Senate stripped the defunding language from the legislation in a party-line vote Friday and sent the measure temporarily funding the government back to the House.
Then senators went home for the weekend. “They don’t want to have to vote, but if delaying the individual mandate for a year is put before them, I thinka lot of them will support it, at least some of them will support it,” he said. “I’m still optimistic. If they’ll wake up from their naps in the Senate, I think they can get it done.” U.S. Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., and Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., both stayed in Washington over the weekend in case the Senate returns today to vote. Reid has said publicly that the Senate will not return until 2 p.m. Monday - 10 hours before the midnight deadline - but several senators said they were told to stay close to town this weekend.
U.S. Rep. Rick Crawford, R-Ark., said he doesn’t know how the Senate can reject the House legislation.
“I think it would be hard for anybody with common sense to say no to anything that’s in our plan,” Crawford said.
He said Republicans won a majority of seats in the House by promising to overturn the health-care law and will use every opportunity to do that.
Crawford characterized Saturday as hurry up and wait.
“This is typically family time and church time, so we’re missing out on that, but occupational hazard,” he said.
Also Saturday, the House approved a second separatemeasure to ensure members of the military would be paid during a government shutdown. Emerging from a Republican morning meeting with earphones in his ears, U.S.
Rep. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said passing the military measure was necessary.
“The least we can do is to make sure they are being paid routinely, and they’re not being used as a political pawn,” Cotton said.
He dismissed the idea that passage of the House legislation will guarantee a shutdown because it is unacceptable to the Senate and the president.
“If Harry Reid and the Senate Democrats would stop being so stubborn and recognize that the president’s already delayed the mandate on businesses, delayed the anti-fraud protections, delayed the anti-privacy protections and numerous other provisions of Obamacare and that it’s not ready to be implemented, then no, of course, the government won’t shut down,” Cotton said.
“We’re not shutting the government down. We are fully funding the government, we’re simply stopping Obamacare from going into effect for one year when its clearly not ready to go into effect,” Cotton said.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 09/29/2013