The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative
Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other
shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org.
September 20, 2013

House to Vote on Defunding Obamacare as Shutdown Looms 
-------------------------------------------------------


 
House Republicans are moving ahead with a vote tying the aversion of a
federal government shutdown to ending Obamacare. Congress faces an end
of the month deadline to pass a new government funding bill or see at
least a partial shut down of federal agencies. On Thursday, House
Speaker John Boehner said he will proceed with a vote today to link
funding to the gutting of the Affordable Health Care Act.

House Speaker John Boehner: "Obamacare is driving up the cost of
healthcare. It's destroyed millions of American jobs. It is a train
wreck. It has to go. We've done everything humanely possible over the
last two-and-half years to make our point and we will continue to make
our point."

President Obama has vowed to veto the House measure and it has no chance
of passing the Senate. On Thursday, Democratic Senator Charles Schumer
of New York urged moderate Republicans to reject Boehner's move.

Sen. Charles Schumer: "If enough mainstream Republicans will come
together with Democrats, we can make the hard right irrelevant.
Democrats want it, the White House wants it, and in their heart of
hearts, the Republican leadership wants it too."

Republicans have also vowed to link the upcoming debate on extending the
Treasury's borrowing limit to an Obamacare repeal. The United States is
facing a deadline of around mid-October to expand the debt ceiling or
face a default on its debts.

 

.