UPDATED: 10:43 a.m. ET
House Republicans look ready to reject a pending bipartisan compromise in the Senate and propose their own plan for re-opening the government and raising the debt limit.
Here are the details of the new House bill that the leadership presented to Republican members at a closed door meeting Tuesday morning, according to multiple House GOP sources.
- Temporary spending bill to re-open the government until Jan. 15.
- Increase the debt limit enough to last until Feb. 7.
- A two-year delay of Obamacare’s medical device tax.
- A requirement that the Obama administration verify the income of Americans receiving tax subsidies through Obamacare (specifics pending).
- A revised version of the so-called Vitter Amendment, in this case requiring Congress members and executive department officials like President Obama — but not their staffs — to purchase insurance through the law’s marketplace without federal employer subsidies.
- Eliminates Treasury Department’s ability to use “extraordinary measures” to avoid default.
The House is expected to vote on the bill today.
It’s effectively a counteroffer to the deal brewing between Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) in the other chamber. It has a few similarities — most importantly, the dates for funding the government and raising the debt limit appear roughly the same — but some key differences.
It adds the medical device tax delay and revised Vitter amendment. It also removes a reported element of the Senate deal, which would have delayed Obamacare’s reinsurance tax, a change that Senate Democrats sought in exchange for the income verification piece.
Senate Republicans, who were scheduled to meet at 11 a.m. ET to review the Reid-McConnell proposal, moved their meeting to 12:30 p.m. ET as news of the House GOP’s plan broke.
