Americans may face another government shutdown if Democrats don’t yield to Republican tactics.
The House of Representatives passed a bill Friday that kept the federal government funded but cut funding to the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, in a virtual party line vote.
The measure is the latest attempt by the GOP to prevent the legislation from taking full effect in the years to come. According to Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.),the bill won’t make it past the Democrat-controlled Senate.
“We don’t have the abilityà to put a total stop and defund Obamacare,” Coburn said to CBS News. “It’d be nice if we did.”
House Majority Leader John Boehner said on Friday that this was the will of the American people.
“Today we had a victory to the American people and ultimately a victory for common sense,” Boehner said. “It’s time for us to say ‘no.’ It’s time for us to stop this before it causes any more damage to American families and American businesses.”
According to polling data on RealClearPolitics.com, 52 percent of people polled opposed Obamacare.
Boehner also said businesses still aren’t hiring because of this law. Other businesses are cutting hours for employees in an effort to circumvent some of the legislation’s various mandates.
It’s now up to the Senate to decide whether or not to pass the legislation, which, according to some Senators, is highly unlikely. The law, however, will still go into effect whether or not Congress acts. The question is whether the program, among many other government departments, will have funds to operate.
While the move to defund Obamacare was commended by some lawmakers, even those within the GOP condemned the actions taken by the House.
The quarrel between the House and Senate could possibly halt the government from operating. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) vowed to filibuster any legislation regarding government funding that appropriates money for Obamacare.
“This is the most important fight in there country, and it’s easy to focus on the political back and forth,” Cruz said. “In all likelihood, it’s not going to be a single-shot [continuing resolution] where everything’s resolved and done. As soon as the house passes this into law, it’s going to be in [the democrat’s] court.”
One commenter from Houston posted on Cruz’s website saying that Obamacare is the reason that his insurance company is doubling his rates for his employees.
“This unnecessary regulation of the benefits I provide my employees is a huge overreach of the government,” the unnamed user said.
Another commenter, on a Huffington Post article believes that Republicans need to give Obamacare a chance.
“Find a way to LOWER healthcare costs and provide all children / young adults with quality, free education. PASS bills that would help the country instead of trying to repeal them,” PeggySue722 said. “All the time they’ve spent trying to repeal it, they have not come up with one stinking alternative. To heck with them I say!”
The government will effectively shut down if Congress doesn’t pass compromised funding legislation by Oct. 1.