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September 16, 2013

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Funding deadline key in battle against Obamacare

Source: Agencies | September 16, 2013, Monday | Print Edition

Another down-to-the-wire fight, potentially more toxic than usual, is rapidly shaping up in the US Congress as conservatives prepare to exploit looming fiscal deadlines to derail President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare reform law.

Like previous congressional spending battles, this one involves two measures that were once relatively routine — a bill to continue funding the government to avert a shutdown, and another to increase the government’s borrowing power so it can pay its debts and avoid default.

But the conflict is particularly volatile this time as, unlike the budget cuts demanded by Republicans in earlier fiscal showdowns, their demands for concessions on Obamacare on the eve of its October 1 insurance exchanges launch are non-negotiable for Democrats.

And this time, it’s not just Republicans versus Democrats, but Republican against Republican. Party elders, lacking the power to make rebellious conservatives back off, have been reduced to pleading with them to do so. The conservatives, braced by the passion of Tea Party activists as the 2014 election approaches, are not inclined to cooperate.

The deadline for funding the government is September 30, when a so-called “continuing resolution” enacted last March expires. By mid-October or early November, the US Treasury will likely run out of borrowing authority. Without an increase of the US$16.7 trillion cap that is written into law, the federal government faces a historic default on its debt that would create havoc in global financial markets.

There is increasing talk among Republicans about a whopper bill that would fund the government from October 1 to September 30 next year, raise the debt ceiling by giving the Treasury Department enough borrowing authority to last for a year, and impose a one-year delay of Obamacare.

“Let’s give them something and we get something in exchange,” Tea Party Republican Representative John Fleming of Louisiana told reporters.

It’s not so simple, said Republican Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona, who spent 12 years as a House member and made his reputation as a fiscal conservative. Flake questioned his former colleague’s wisdom in pushing their fight against Obamacare.

“The notion that you’re going to get this (Democratic) Senate and this president to pass a repeal right now is I don’t think practical,” Flake said. He added: “I quit trying to understand that place as soon as I left.”

Opponents of Obamacare, which will provide insurance to millions of Americans, say the law will damage healthcare as well as the nation’s economy. After three years of trying and failing to repeal the law, some conservatives in the House of Representatives are willing to go for broke — literally — in their drive to prevail.

The concern of senior Republicans is that their party will take a huge public relations hit if they are blamed for the fiscal strife.

In the latest CNN/ORC survey, 51 percent said Republicans would be more responsible for a shutdown, and 33 percent said Obama would take the blame.

There are risks for Democrats and Obama too. While polls show the public more upset with Republicans than Obama after the “fiscal cliff” fight that led to across-the-board budget cuts, Obama’s Gallup approval rating started on a downward trend then from which it has yet to recover.

With deadlines fast-approaching, maneuvering is under way.

The White House announced that Obama would speak to the group of chief executives.

In the Capitol, the top four Republican and Democratic leaders of the Senate and House met in the office of House of Representative Speaker John Boehner last week to try to plot out a happy ending to their government spending and debt limit challenges.

In the meantime, Democrats, who control the White House and the Senate, are content to demand a no-strings-attached debt limit increase and watch Republicans tear themselves apart over this legislation, as well as the more pressing bill to keep the government running beyond September 30.

 

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