House approves ObamaCare counterproposal, as shutdown deadline looms

The senate just voted to block this bill . This is the third bill that they failed to pass. The Idiot running the Senate Reid won't even send a counter proposal. As posted earlier it looks like these Scumbags and our so called leader want a shutdown. Its all political. i would stand my ground knowing that people are getting their hours cut because of Obamacare. They House Bill also got rid of all Exemptions for anyone including Government employees or business. Harry Reid took that out! What a bunch of rotten Liberal Dirtbags!!

The House on Monday narrowly approved a new Republican counterproposal to both rein in ObamaCare and fund the government, with just hours to go until a midnight shutdown deadline. 

Senate Democrats have already warned that they will not consider any measure that targets ObamaCare. They plan to take up -- and likely reject -- the GOP bill within the hour. That will leave roughly two hours on the clock before midnight. 

The House approved its latest proposal on a 228-201 vote. 

The new counterproposal would delay the health law's individual mandate by a year, and also prohibit members of Congress, their staffers and other officials from receiving additional government subsidies for their health care. That provision caused consternation among lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, with some reluctant to hurt their own staff by taking away additional subsidies for theirhealth care costs. According to the site Legistorm, the average House staffer salary is under $60,000. Twelve Republicans peeled off in the latest vote to oppose the bill. 

Amid the drama, President Obama said he's holding out hope that Congress will come together "in the 11th hour." 

A shutdown "does not have to happen," Obama said, during remarks at the White House. The president has called the top four congressional leaders, including House Speaker John Boehner, though no breakthrough was reported. 

Congress has until midnight to craft a spending bill, or else the government will begin to wind down. Both sides, though, are digging in deep. 

The Senate earlier Monday rejected a GOP proposal that would delay thehealth care law by one year and repeal an unpopular medical device tax. Senate Majority leader Harry Reid warned Republicans not to fiddle with the spending bill any more. "As we said Friday, nothing has changed. If they try to send us something back, they're spinning their wheels," Reid said. 

But House Republican leaders at that point were already moving forward with their latest counteroffer. 

"It's a matter of fairness for all Americans," Boehner said. 

Ahead of the House vote, Obama said Congress can avert a shutdown by passing a straight budget bill without "extraneous and controversial demands." 

Obama warned that a shutdown would hurt all Americans, noting that the federal government is the country's largest employer. "A shutdown will have a very real economic impact on real people, right away," Obama said. 

A prior Republican effort to include a provision defunding ObamaCare in the budget bill failed. House Republicans then voted, early Sunday, to add amendments delaying the health care law by one year and repealing an unpopular medical device tax. 

The Senate, in a 54-46 vote, rejected those proposals on Monday afternoon. 

In a rare note of optimism, Obama said earlier Monday that he's "not at all resigned" to a shutdown. 

But the path forward is not clear. With nothing less than the operation of government on the line, the battle in Congress over ObamaCare was shaping into a test of wills. 

Reid has outright stated he will not accept any measures that undermine the health care law as part of the budget bill. With the bill back on the Senate side, Boehner and Reid now face off with their final set of chess moves in a very narrow time frame. Lawmakers have until midnight to strike a deal. 

Reid wants Boehner to simply call up the "clean" budget bill, without any ObamaCare provisions, and presumably let it pass with majority Democratic support. 

"I have a very simple message to John Boehner: let the House vote," Reid said Monday. 

On Sunday, House Republican Whip Kevin McCarthy indicated his caucus might still have a few more plays left. 

"We have other options for the Senate to look at," he told "Fox News Sunday." 

But at this stage, a shutdown is highly possible, and congressional leaders are hard at work trying to assign blame. 

Democrats have already labeled this a "Republican government shutdown." But Republicans on Sunday hammered Reid and his colleagues for not coming back to work immediately after the House passed a bill Sunday morning.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/09/30/budget-showdown-test-wills-as-shutdown-deadline-comes-into-view/