House Passes Budget Resolution Defunding Obamacare

By a vote of 230-189, the House of Representatives passed a continuing resolution on Friday that would continue to finance the federal government through December 15—while defunding Obamacare.

The vote is the first move in an expected series of showdowns on Capitol Hill. Next, the Democratic-controlled Senate is expected to strip the language defunding Obamacare and then send the continuing resolution back to the House. If no deal is reached by September 30, the end of the fiscal year, there would be a government shutdown on October 1.

In addition to the budget showdown, the federal government is expected to reach its debt ceiling by the middle of October. If the debt ceiling is not increased through legislation by then, the federal government will default on its debts. House Republicans have indicated that they are willing to tie defunding Obamacare to any possible increase in the debt ceiling.

Aside from defunding Obamacare, the continuing resolution would otherwise continue to fund the federal government at its current post-sequestration levels. Two conservative Democrats, Jim Matheson of Utah and Mike McIntyre of North Carolina, joined the GOP in passing the resolution, while Scott Rigell (R-VA), an idiosyncratic conservative, joined Democrats in opposing it.