Shutdown nearing,GOP OKs Obamacare delay

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Shutdown nears as House passes funding bill that delays Obamacare

House Speaker John Boehner arrives for a closed-door meeting of the House Republican caucus Saturday.

By Michael O'Brien, Political Reporter, NBC News

A government shutdown is more likely after House Republicans voted late Saturday to fund the government and delay "Obamacare" for a year, upping the ante in their fiscal showdown with President Barack Obama.

In spite of a veto threat from Obama, Republicans led by House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, doubled down on their strategy of using the specter of a government shutdown to extract concessions from the president on the Affordable Care Act, the president's signature domestic achievement.

The House voted largely on party lines to fund the government through Dec. 15, but attached to that measure were amendments to delay Obamacare for a year and repeal a politically unpopular tax on medical devices. Specifically, the House voted 231 to 192 on a measure to continue government funding and to delay the health care law for a year.

“The House has again passed a plan that reflects the American people’s desire to keep government running and stop the president’s health care law," Boehner said in a statement. "Now that the House has again acted, it’s up to the Senate to pass this bill without delay to stop a government shutdown. Let’s get this done.”


Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, addresses the House floor Saturday evening, saying that congressional Democrats have not been willing to sit down with Republicans to negotiate an agreement on the status of the Affordable Care Act and a continuing resolution.

As a way to politically inoculate themselves against the political fallout from a shutdown, Republicans also passed separate legislation to guarantee military members' pay should a shutdown come to pass.

Still, the votes only seemed to increase the odds of a shutdown come the end of Monday as Democrats in the Senate vowed to reject the House bill before it had even passed.

"Today’s vote by House Republicans is pointless," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said in a statement. "To be absolutely clear, the Senate will reject both the one-year delay of the Affordable Care Act and the repeal of the medical device tax."

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