House votes to delay Obamacare
Reid vows measure avoiding shutdown will fail in Senate
WASHINGTON — Locked in a deepening struggle with President Barack Obama, the Republican-controlled House approved legislation early Sunday imposing a oneyear delay in key parts of the nation’s health care law and repealing a tax on medical devices as the price for avoiding a partial government shutdown in a few days’ time.
Even before the House voted, Senate Democrats pledged to reject the measure and the White House issued a statement vowing a veto in any event. Republicans are pursuing “a narrow ideological agenda . . . and pushing the government towards shutdown,” it said.
The Senate is not scheduled to meet until midafternoon on Monday, 10 hours before a shutdown would begin, and even some Republicans said privately they feared that Senate Ma- jority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) held the advantage in the fast-approaching end game.
Undeterred, House Republicans pressed ahead with their latest attempt to squeeze a concession from the White House in exchange for letting the government open for busi- ness normally on Tuesday. Apart from its impact on the health-care law, the legislation that House Republicans decided to back would assure routine funding for government agencies through Dec. 15. Under House rules, the measure went to the Senate after lawmakers voted 248-174 to repeal the medical tax, then 231-192 for the one-year delay in Obamacare.
A companion measure headed for approval assures U.S. troops are paid in the event of a shutdown.