The U.S. Senate will reconvene Monday afternoon, at 2pm ET, facing the impending prospect of a government shutdown. Last week the Senate voted to strip a budget bill of language to defund the Affordable Care Act, a.k.a Obamacare, set to go into effect tomorrow, to which the Republican-controlled House of Representatives resonded over the weekend with concessions of their own, attempting to delay the enactment of Obamacare by one year and repeal a 2.3 percent tax on medical devices.
The Senate will volley the House’s weekend counteroffer today by likely tabling the entire bill. The tax on medical devices alone has garnered enough support to overturn it. Policito notes “Elimination of the medical device tax has broad bipartisan support in Congress and a nonbinding vote earlier this year on repealing the tax drew the support of 79 senators.” Today’s motion, though, will vote on the entire package proposed by the House.
If — as expected — the bill fails to clear the Senate, the House will be left with just hours on hand to undertake the laborious task of designing a blueprint to keep the government funded, if only just for the immediate future.
Recent attempts by the House to defund Obamacare have been met with overwhelming opposition. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev) deemed Senator Ted Cruz’s (R-Tex) faux filibuster last week a vain attempt, for all it did was thrust the Lone Star State’s frosh Senator into the national spotlight while exhausting an entire day the bicameral legislature could’ve used to brainstorm a solution to the looming government shutdown.
Members of the House, though, don’t appear the least bit worried.
According to the Huffington Post, Rep. Rob Woodall (R-Ga.) told reporters, “I have never foreseen a government shutdown and I continue not to see a government shutdown.
“The Senate has plenty of time to deal with this. This is good, common middle ground that is in this package. I think we’re gonna get a big bipartisan vote in the House. I think we’re gonna get a big vote in the Senate too,” Woodall continued.
Current CNN polls show the majority of those surveyed place blame on the shoulders of the GOP, perhaps for their inability to connect with the values and norms of the American populous, or their apparent denial that a government shutdown is even a remote possibility.
“We just need to stand firm. I think we may get Democrats on this,” said Rep. Tom Massie (R-Ky.), continued the HuffPo.
As mentioned before, the Senate won’t reconvene until 2pm ET Monday afternoon. In the meantime, feel free to respectfully share your thoughts and ideas on the matter in the comments section below. We’ll be sure to keep you updated on all Congressional measures today so be sure to check back with BostInno periodically.
