House Republicans
said Tuesday they will counter the Senate’s debt and spending deal by insisting that it also include language making Congress, President Obama and top political appointees in both branches of government have to take part in Obamacare.
Emerging from a morning meeting, GOP lawmakers also said they will add a delay of the despised medical device tax to its version of a bill to extend the debt limit and reopen the government after a two-week shutdown. They expect to put the bill on the House floor later Tuesday.
The move is pushback against the deal the Senate is working, which doesn’t make any major dents in the president’s health law. The House bill would take the same details about how long a stopgap spending bill and the debt increase should last, and expand it with the new Obamacare provisions.
The White House has steadfastly resisted any major changes to its health law, and has rejected attaching any strings to bills to reopen the government and raise the Treasury Department’s borrowing limit.
But Republicans believe they have found popular changes that will make Senate Democrats have to take tough votes.
