House Republicans Abandon New Shutdown Bill
Hoping to preempt a tentative Senate deal unpopular with many of its members, House Republicans presented a new plan this morning to reopen the government through Jan. 15 and raise the debt limit to Feb. 7. UPDATE 11:55 a.m.: House Republicans have already abandoned the plan because there weren't enough votes to support it.
After more than two hours, Republican leaders backed off the plan that had emerged this morning. Speaker John A. Boehner told reporters that there were “no decisions about what exactly we will do.”
“We’re trying to find a way forward in a bipartisan way that would continue to provide fairness to the American people under Obamacare,” Mr. Boehner said, but he also acknowledged that “there are a lot of opinions” among his fractious members.
Unlike the Senate's plan, which would leave the Affordable Care Act mostly intact, the House's plan would suspend the medical device tax for two years, require income verification for health-care subsidies, and remove health-care subsidies for the president, vice president, the Cabinet and members of Congress but not congressional staff.
Sen. Ted Cruz spearheaded the new bill, which he reportedly planned with many of the GOP's most conservative members at Tex-Mex restaurant last night.
And House Republicans were in good spirits this morning as they discussed the bill.
House GOP members sang "Amazing Grace" together to start their meeting on a debt limit deal this morning.
— Chris Moody (@Chris_Moody) October 15, 2013
“We think we’ve enhanced it in a number of ways,” Rep. Darrell Issa told the New York Times, referring the Senate plan, later adding that the new House plan was "more on point."