House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) said Monday that the House would not accept a “clean” continuing resolution to fund the government — a bill without language defunding or delaying Obamacare already passed by the Senate — making the prospect of a shutdown almost certain to transpire come midnight.
“That’s not going to happen,” Boehner told a reporter at a press conference on Capitol Hill.
The Senate rejected the House GOP’s amendments to a government funding bill by a party line vote earlier Monday. House Republicans are now moving to pass a bill funding the government that would also delay the law’s individual mandate and cancel health-insurance subsidies for members of Congress. Senate Democrats have already said this measure, too, would be a non-starter, and it remains to be seen whether the most conservative members of the Republican conference would even support it. Boehner, however, sounded an optimistic note.
“We’re confident that this issue will pass,” he added.
As Republicans sought a way forward Monday afternoon, House Democrats piled on, offering to provide Boehner the necessary votes to pass a continuing resolution that maintained across-the-board sequestration budget cuts so long as it excluded the Affordable Care Act.
