Challenge to US healthcare law pushes federal government to brink of shutdown

Washington: A conservative challenge to President Barack Obama’s cherished health care law pushed the federal government to the brink of a partial shutdown Monday, with the Senate expected to convene just hours before a deadline to pass a temporary spending bill. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has already promised that Democrats will kill a provision introduced by the Republican led-House of Representatives to delay key parts of the health care law for year. [caption id=“attachment_1142855” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Barack Obama. AP image[/caption] U.S. stock futures fell sharply Monday morning as the government careened toward closures that would force 800,000 federal workers off the job without pay. Some critical services would continue, such as patrolling the borders, inspecting meat and controlling air traffic, and health care programs for the poor and elderly. Since the last government shutdown 17 years ago, temporary funding bills have been noncontroversial, with neither party willing to chance a shutdown to achieve legislative goals it couldn’t otherwise win. But with the 3-year-old health care law nearing implementation, hardcore tea party conservatives are determined to use the funding bill as leverage to derail Obama’s chief domestic accomplishment. The health care overhaul, which has come to be known as “Obamacare,” is aimed at providing health coverage for millions of uninsured Americans. Exchanges are set to open Tuesday under the law where people can shop for health care coverage from private insurers. Republicans insist the initiative is already costing jobs and driving up health care costs. Congressional Republicans and Democrats spent Sunday trading the blame for failure to reach agreement on the stopgap funding bill. The battle started with a House vote to pass the short-term funding bill with a provision that would have defunded implementation of the health care overhaul. The Senate voted along party lines to strip that out and lobbed the measure back to the House. The latest House measure, passed early Sunday by a near party-line vote of 231-192, sent back to the Senate two key changes: a one year delay of key provisions of the health insurance law and repeal of a new tax on medical devices that partially funds it, steps that still go too far for The White House and its Democratic allies. Senate rules often make it difficult to act quickly, but the chamber can act on the House’s latest proposals by simply calling them up and killing them on a non-debatable motion. Even some Republicans said privately they feared that Democratic Senate leader Reid holds the advantage in the fast-approaching end game. Republicans argued that they had already made compromises; for instance, their latest measure would leave intact most parts of the health care law that have taken effect, including requiring insurance companies to cover people with pre-existing conditions and to let families’ plans cover children up to age 26. They also would allow insurers to deny contraception coverage based on religious or moral objections. Democrats countered that Republicans were seizing a routine funding measure and holding it hostage, seeking leverage to unfairly jam Democrats into making concessions. Democrats were confident they could hold firm, and some more senior Republicans acknowledged that the situation is rife with political risk for their party. A leading Senate moderate called on her fellow Republicans to back down. “I disagree with the strategy of linking Obamacare with the continuing functioning of government — a strategy that cannot possibly work,” said Sen. Susan Collins of Maine. ___