Boehner  Americans Don't Want Obamacare
Channel: Disillusioned
Date: 2013-09-20

The House on Friday passed legislation that defunds ObamaCare but would keep the government running through mid-December.

The legislation was approved on a party-line 230-189 vote, with Rep. Scott Rigell (Va.) as the only GOP "no" vote. Two Democrats voted for the measure: Reps. Jim Matheson (Utah) and Mike McIntyre (N.C.).

Passage of the bill sets up a showdown with the Senate, and moves the two sides closer to a possible government shutdown Oct. 1.

The ObamaCare language is expected to be stripped from the bill in the Senate, setting up a critical week of negotiations next week. House Republicans have canceled a planned recess to return to Washington on Wednesday, and their leaders have warned the House could be in next weekend.

After the vote, nearly the entire House Republican Conference crowded into the Rayburn Room off the House floor to demand that the Senate follow suit in defunding the healthcare law. The rally was a show of unity amid a series of fiscal battles that have deeply divided the conference.

The lawmakers giving a rousing cheer to Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), just over a week after many of them rejected their initial plan to take a less aggressive approach to the healthcare law in the spending bill.

"It's time for us to say no," Boehner said of the law. "It's time to stop this before it causes any more damage to American families and American businesses."

"Our message to the United States Senate is very simple: The American people don't want the government shut down, and they don't want ObamaCare," Boehner said as lawmakers cheered and applauded. "The House has listened to the American people. Now it's time for the United States Senate to listen to them as well."