Author Topic: Senate rejects House funding bill with shutdown in clear sight  (Read 950 times)

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Offline mystery-ak

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Senate rejects House funding bill with shutdown in clear sight
« on: September 30, 2013, 06:29:43 pm »
http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/325519-senate-rejects-house-bill-with-shutdown-in-clear-sight


Senate rejects House funding bill with shutdown in clear sight
By Alexander Bolton - 09/30/13 02:14 PM ET

Congress took another step toward a government shutdown Monday as the Senate voted 54-46 to strip language from a House funding bill that delayed ObamaCare by a year.

Senate Democrats called on House Republicans to pass a clean government funding resolution and warned the GOP would take the brunt of the public backlash if government services become severely curtailed.

Democrats also eliminated language allowing employers to opt out of providing insurance coverage of contraception if doing so violates their moral or religious principles.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) needed only a simple majority vote to cut the House language delaying ObamaCare and repealing the medical device tax because the amended stopgap came from across the Capitol as a message to the Senate. Monday's vote was strictly on party lines.

The afternoon vote leaves Congress where it was at the start of the weekend with Senate Democrats insisting on passage of a stopgap free of policy riders and House Republicans demanding action on the Affordable Care Act.

The government will shut down at midnight unless negotiators reach a compromise.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and other members of his conference floated several proposals Monday to avoid a government shutdown, including a one-week stopgap spending measure.

Sen. Mike Lee (Utah), a Tea-Party Republican who has led the effort to link defunding ObamaCare to the stopgap, was recently undecided about how he would react to a one-week stopgap.

“I’d have to think that through under the totality of the circumstances if we had something like that,” he said Friday.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) mocked the GOP idea.

“What about five minutes? Maybe they want to send us a three-and-half-minute CR? Grow up and just step up to the plate,” said Boxer.

Boxer argued that Democrats made a significant concession when they agreed to the funding levels passed by the House.Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) showed no sign earlier in the day of backing down on the ObamaCare language

“It's time for the Senate to listen to the American people just like the House has listened to the American people and to pass a one-year delay of ObamaCare and a permanent repeal of the medical device tax.”

She has floated legislation that would block members of Congress from receiving pay during the shutdown.

“Nobody gets paid in a shutdown except members of Congress so I’m pushing my bill to make sure we don’t get paid and we’re treated just like our staffs,” she said.

The Senate Republican cloakroom on Monday blasted GOP lawmakers about the possibility of making continuing appropriations for members of the military.

Senate leaders would need unanimous consent from the chamber to approve a one-week stopgap before the midnight deadline, when government funds expire.

House Republican conservatives may balk at the plan because it would allow the implementation of ObamaCare to begin Oct. 1, when the new law’s open-enrollment period begins.

“There are a number of options Senate Republicans are talking about,” said a GOP aide. “A one week [continuing resolution]. Locking in military pay. If Democrats insist on a shutdown, let’s pay the military.”



Senate Republicans have also proposed accepting House-passed legislation that would ensure members of the military continue to receive pay if the government shuts down.

“Despite the Democrats’ refusal to work with the House to solve the problem, Republicans are working to protect the troops, prevent a shutdown and find solutions to the difficulties caused by Senate Democrats’ delays,” said Michael Brumas, a spokesman for McConnell.


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Offline mystery-ak

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Re: Senate rejects House funding bill with shutdown in clear sight
« Reply #1 on: September 30, 2013, 06:32:24 pm »
Senator Ted Cruz

Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid had the opportunity this afternoon to avert a government shutdown. Instead, he chose to kill the House’s bill to keep government open, a deliberate act to move towards a government shutdown. This is no surprise. After the House acted Saturday night, Sen. Reid refused to call the Senate back to service, instead leaving senators at home on vacation while a shutdown loomed. And he has apparently advised the President not to meet with House and Senate leaders of both parties. Harry Reid wants a shutdown, because, sadly, Democrats are putting politics above the needs of the American people. The New York Times explained why: because, as the Democrats believe “now is the time to break the power of Tea Party Republicans."

This is exactly the kind of DC-based thinking that makes Americans disdain Washington, DC. Democrats need to listen to the people and start working for the millions of Americans who are losing their jobs, wages, and healthcare benefits because of Obamacare. This is not a debate over a government shutdown; it’s a debate about how Obamacare is plaguing our economy. I will continue working to make sure the government stays open and Americans receive the same benefits as giant corporations and Congress under Obamacare. Until then, I hope the American people will continue to speak out against this disastrous, train wreck of a law and make DC listen.



http://www.cruz.senate.gov/record.cfm?id=345838

Press Release of Senator Cruz
Reid Tables Bill to Fund Government, Refuses to Come to Table with Republicans


Contact: press@cruz.senate.gov / (202) 228-7561
Monday, September 30, 2013

WASHINGTON, DC -- U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) released the following statement regarding Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's decision to block consideration of the House-passed Continuing Resolution to avoid a government shutdown.
« Last Edit: September 30, 2013, 06:34:09 pm by mystery-ak »
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Democrat Party...the Party of Infanticide

“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
-Matthew 6:34