Democrats Work to Protect Health Care
Congress and the President must act by midnight Friday to fund the federal government or it will shut down. Over the past week or two political insiders have said it increasingly looked like there was no threat, that an agreement to fund the government would be reached, and then President Trump intervened, demanding the funding bill include his wall on the Mexico border. He seems to have dropped that demand. Republicans over the past 18 hours have indicated a full funding bill would not hit the floor, but a continuing resolution, a short-term bill to allow the government to stay open, would.
But in his rush to get some sort of legislative accomplishment added to his slim list of first 100 day accomplishments, Trump has been pushing the House to, once again, pass a bill to “repeal and replace” ObamaCare. On Thursday morning the House filed to vote on a procedural measure that will allow them to vote on the repeal and replace bill, TrumpCare, as early as Friday.
Top Democratic lawmakers now say they will let the federal government shut down if a TrumpCare vote takes place before Saturday.
“If Republicans announce their intention to bring their harmful TrumpCare bill to the House Floor tomorrow or Saturday, I will oppose a one-week Continuing Resolution and will advise House Democrats to oppose it as well,” House Democratic Minority Whip Steny Hoyer said in a statement, as CNN reported.
“Republicans continue to struggle to find the votes to pass a bill that will kick 24 million Americans off their health coverage, allow discrimination against those with pre-existing conditions, and impose an age tax on older Americans. That’s why they are trying to jam it through the House before their Members can hear from the American people this weekend about their opposition to this horrible legislation,” Hoyer’s statement continues.
“If Republicans pursue this partisan path of forcing Americans to pay more for less and destabilizing our county’s health care system – without even knowing how much their bill will cost – Republicans should be prepared to pass a one-week Continuing Resolution on their own.”
All Republicans have to do to not shut down the government is not vote to repeal and “replace” ObamaCare. The vast majority of Americans do not want ObamaCare repealed.
It reportedly would be the first time the federal government has shut down with the President controlling both houses of Congress.
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Image by US Capitol via FlickrÂ