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With Shutdown Near, House G.O.P. Sticks to Its Demands Obama Criticizes G.O.P. as Senate Rejects House’s Terms on Budget
(about 5 hours later)
WASHINGTON — House Republicans showed no sign of backing down in the escalating budget fight on Monday, signaling a readiness to shut down the federal government unless Democrats agreed to delay or undo parts of the 2010 health care overhaul. WASHINGTON — House Republican leaders pushed forward a new plan to tie further government spending to a one-year delay in a requirement that individuals buy health insurance, after the Senate took less than 25 minutes to convene and dispose of a weekend budget proposal by the House Republicans.
Republican members of the House will gather at 2 p.m. Monday to plot their next move. The Senate is scheduled to convene at that hour as well, and Democrats plan to quickly kill the House’s latest proposal, which would delay implementation of the health care law for a year and repeal a tax on medical devices that helps pay for the law’s expansion of coverage to the uninsured. The rapid back-and-forth came with the federal government essentially running out of money at midnight if no agreement is reached. The Republicans were planning a vote later Monday on the new plan, which also includes a denial of government subsidies to lawmakers and their staff members buying health insurance.
The confrontation — which threatens to close federal offices and facilities, idling thousands of workers around the country — stems from an unusual push by Republicans to undo a law that has been on the books for three years, through a presidential election, and that the Supreme Court largely upheld in 2012. A major part of the law is set to take effect Tuesday: the opening of insurance exchanges, where people without health insurance will be able to obtain coverage. President Obama spoke in the White House briefing room on Monday evening, and castigated House Republicans for failing to perform one of the most basic functions by not providing money for the government. He said a shutdown would harm the economic recovery.
“The idea of putting the American people’s hard-earned progress at risk is the height of irresponsibility and doesn’t have to happen,” Mr. Obama said. “Let me repeat that: It does not have to happen. All of this is entirely preventable.”
He added, “One faction of one party in one house of Congress in one branch of government doesn’t get to shut down the entire government just to re-fight the results of an election.”
Earlier Monday, the Senate, along party lines, voted 54-46 to kill the House plan just over 20 minutes after coming back into session from a weekend break. Senators then sent the House a bill to finance the government through Nov. 15 without policy prescriptions.
But House leaders would have none of it, again demanding a significant hit to the health law as a price for keeping the government open. At 12:01 a.m., much of the government is set to close, furloughing 800,000 workers and withholding paychecks for millions of others who will be expected to work without compensation.
“The president provided a one-year delay of the employer mandate. He’s provided for exceptions for unions and others. There’s even an exception for members of Congress. We believe that everyone should be treated fairly,” said House Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio.
Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Senate majority leader, laid into the speaker and put the blame for a looming shutdown solely on his shoulders.
“Our negotiation is over with,” he said.
“You know with a bully you cannot let them slap you around because they slap you around today, they slap you five or six times tomorrow,” Mr. Reid, a former boxer, continued. “We are not going to be bullied.”
In addition to criticizing Mr. Boehner in harsh terms, Mr. Reid excoriated what he called the “banana Republican mindset” of the House. He called on the speaker to put the Senate bill up for a vote, which would almost certainly pass in the House because of overwhelming Democratic support and backing from moderate Republicans.
“I have a very simple message to John Boehner: Let the House vote. Stop trying to force a government shutdown,” he said.
Mr. Reid also ruled out a short-term stopgap bill that could keep the government funded for several days while both sides continued to pursue an agreement.
But House Republicans showed no sign of backing down, signaling a readiness to shut down the federal government over the health law.
In their latest move, House Republicans attached language to a government funding bill that would delay the mandate that individuals obtain health insurance and would force members of Congress, their staffs and White House staff members to buy their health insurance on the new exchanges without any government subsidies.
That proposal makes it more likely that a partial shutdown of the government will begin just after midnight, barring a last-minute retreat by the House.
Conservative activists have framed the language as ensuring that Congress and the White House live under the same strictures as ordinary Americans under the health care law. In fact, the language would put poorly paid junior staff members at a disadvantage. Most people buying coverage on the exchanges will receive subsidies through generous tax credits. Most Americans will still get their insurance from their employers, who will continue to receive a tax deduction for the cost of that care.
Under the House language, lawmakers and their staffs, executive branch political appointees, the White House staff, as well as the vice president and the president, would have to pay the entire cost of health insurance out of pocket.
Unlike Saturday, when House Republicans emerged excited and unified by their proposal, this time there were significant qualms.
Representative Chris Stewart, Republican of Utah, said members were standing to say they had sick children who would be hard to insure, or they themselves would struggle to buy insurance, either because of their age or their health conditions.
The House will vote again this evening, but this time passage is not ensured. “There are definitely some people who are very much not for it. We’ll see what happens on the floor tonight,” said Rep. Bill Shuster, Republican of Pennsylvania.
Rep. Peter King, Republican of New York, said junior staff members were being “sacrificed” for a political gambit.
The budget confrontation — which threatens to close federal offices and facilities, idling thousands of workers around the country — stems from an unusual push by Republicans to undo a law that has been on the books for three years, through a presidential election, and that the Supreme Court largely upheld in 2012. A major part of the law is set to take effect Tuesday: the opening of insurance exchanges, where people without health insurance will be able to obtain coverage.
Absent a last-minute agreement by the two parties, parts of the federal government that President Obama does not deem essential will shut down at 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday.Absent a last-minute agreement by the two parties, parts of the federal government that President Obama does not deem essential will shut down at 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday.
Republicans argue that the Obama administration has itself delayed elements of the law. They say that at a minimum it should be postponed for a year to eliminate what they see as bureaucratic problems and harmful consequences for businesses and individuals. Republicans also say they have compromised by retreating from their insistence that all money be stripped from the health law.Republicans argue that the Obama administration has itself delayed elements of the law. They say that at a minimum it should be postponed for a year to eliminate what they see as bureaucratic problems and harmful consequences for businesses and individuals. Republicans also say they have compromised by retreating from their insistence that all money be stripped from the health law.
Democrats say that Republicans are being driven by the most extreme elements of their party to use the federal budget to extract concessions on health care that they could not win through the traditional legislative process. They say that the push to halt the health care law just as Americans will be able to sign up for coverage is outrageous, and that a governmentwide shutdown will threaten the nation’s slow economic recovery and cause widespread and unnecessary disruptions for the public. Democrats have won support from some Senate Republicans, who see a shutdown as damaging to their party.Democrats say that Republicans are being driven by the most extreme elements of their party to use the federal budget to extract concessions on health care that they could not win through the traditional legislative process. They say that the push to halt the health care law just as Americans will be able to sign up for coverage is outrageous, and that a governmentwide shutdown will threaten the nation’s slow economic recovery and cause widespread and unnecessary disruptions for the public. Democrats have won support from some Senate Republicans, who see a shutdown as damaging to their party.
“I still hold up a small hope that the Republicans will come to their senses, that the mainstream Republicans will say ‘enough already,'” Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, said on “Morning Joe” on MSNBC on Monday, urging the House Republican leadership to put a spending bill without policy prescriptions to a vote on the floor. “The question is, does Speaker Boehner need to engage in something like the ancient practice of sacrifice, this time to the right-wing gods? Do we have to sacrifice the economy, help for millions of middle-class people?”“I still hold up a small hope that the Republicans will come to their senses, that the mainstream Republicans will say ‘enough already,'” Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, said on “Morning Joe” on MSNBC on Monday, urging the House Republican leadership to put a spending bill without policy prescriptions to a vote on the floor. “The question is, does Speaker Boehner need to engage in something like the ancient practice of sacrifice, this time to the right-wing gods? Do we have to sacrifice the economy, help for millions of middle-class people?”
On the House floor Monday morning, Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio showed no signs of relenting, arguing that the health care law “is not ready for prime time.”

Jeremy W. Peters and Jonathan Weisman contributed reporting.

“The House has done its work,” he said. “We passed a bill on Saturday night — sent it to the United States Senate — that would delay Obamacare for one year, and would eliminate permanently the medical device tax that is costing us tens of thousands of jobs that are being shipped overseas.”
Mr. Boehner criticized the Senate for not working over the weekend, a move by Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic majority leader, to run down the clock and leave House Republicans with undesirable options before the government shuts down after midnight: to either pass a spending bill without policy prescriptions to keep the government financed and open, or to double down on their hard-line stance and possibly be blamed for a shutdown.
“Senate decided not to work yesterday,” Mr. Boehner continued. “Well, my goodness, if there’s such an emergency, where are they? It’s time for the Senate to listen to the American people, just like the House has listened to the American people, and to pass a one-year delay of Obamacare and a permanent repeal of the medical device tax.”
Mr. Reid has repeatedly said that Senate Democrats plan to table portions of the House spending bill, including provisions to delay the health care law by one year, repeal a medical device tax and allow businesses to opt out of contraception coverage for their employees. The Senate is set to send back to the House a stripped-down spending bill, giving Republicans just hours to offer an alternate plan before the government would shut down and hundreds of thousands of workers would be furloughed.
Mr. Boehner had hoped to persuade the unruly conservative members of his conference to save the fight to defund the health care law until a debate on the debt ceiling, in which he believes Republicans hold more leverage and Mr. Obama would be forced to negotiate. But House Republicans were ecstatic Saturday when Mr. Boehner and his leadership team in a closed-door meeting presented their plan to allow Republicans to use the stopgap spending measure to delay the full effect of the Affordable Care Act.
On Sunday, House Republicans had already started trying to assign blame, with more than a dozen members holding a news conference on the steps of the Capitol to complain that the Senate had refused to work over the weekend.
“Now today, we see the Senate doors are shut. They’re locked,” said Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington, the chairwoman of the House Republican Conference. “Senator Harry Reid says it is ‘inevitable’ that the government is going to shut down. Well, if the Senate doesn’t act, it may be inevitable. But we’re here to say that the Senate needs to act. Why are they waiting? Why aren’t those doors open?”
Speaking on CNBC on Monday morning, Representative Marsha Blackburn, Republican of Tennessee, echoed her party’s view that it is Senate Democrats and Mr. Obama, not House Republicans, who are forcing a possible government shutdown.
“What we want to do is solve the problem, and we’ve been trying to do it, and we’re disappointed that the Senate decided that they didn’t want to stay here and work,” Ms. Blackburn said. “We’ve been trying to solve the problem. We’re not the ones that want a shutdown.”
As legislators try to stave off a shutdown, a few options — albeit unlikely ones — have emerged. House Republicans could pass a short-term measure to finance the government that does not include any of their health care delays, in order to buy more time to come up with another plan. Or House Republicans could try to force Mr. Reid to accept a repeal of the tax on medical devices — a step that many Democrats also support — in exchange for the House’s not sending over a bill with new language that would require members of Congress and their staffs, as well as White House staff members, to buy their health insurance on the new exchanges, without any government subsidies.