US on the brink of government shutdown

WASHINGTON: House Republicans on Saturday pushed the government to the brink of a partial shutdown in two days, nearing passage of a one-year delay in implementing major parts of President Barack Obama's health care law in defiance of the White House and Democratic-controlled Senate.

The White House quickly issued a veto threat and Senate Democrats vowed to reject the measure even before the House of Representatives began debating the Republican plan.

''Any member of the Republican Party who votes for this bill is voting for a shutdown,'' presidential press secretary Jay Carney said in a statement.

Undeterred, House Republicans pressed ahead with their latest attempt to squeeze a concession from the White House in exchange for providing the funds the government needs to open for business normally on Tuesday. The House Republican plan also would repeal a tax on medical devices that helps pay for the health care law.

Dealing with the possibility the Senate would reject the bill, the House of Representatives also planned to pass a companion measure directing that U.S. military troops be paid on time despite any partial shutdown. ''I think we have a winning program here,'' said Republican Rep. Hal Rogers, chairman of the HouseAppropriations Committee, after days of discord that pitted Speaker John Boehner and his leadership against the party's ultraconservative tea party wing.

Failure to pass a short-term measure to keep the government running would mean the first partial closing in almost 20 years. A single, agreed-upon version must be approved by both houses of Congress and signed by Obama by Tuesday.

Such paralyzing fiscal fights have dominated Washington in recent years, underscoring the deep divide between the Republicans and the Obama administration and its Democratic allies. The two sides have managed in the past to come up with last-minute compromises to avoid a government shutdown. Apart from its impact on the health care law, the legislation that House Republicans decided to back would assure routine funding for government agencies through Dec. 15.

The measure marked something of a reduction in demands by House Republicans, who passed legislation several days ago that would permanently strip the health care law of money while providing funding for the government.

It also contained significant concessions from a party that long has criticized the health care law for imposing numerous government mandates on industry, in some cases far exceeding what Republicans were willing to support in the past. Republican aides said that under the legislation headed toward a vote, portions of the health care law that already have gone into effect would remain unchanged. That includes requirements for insurance companies to guarantee coverage for pre-existing conditions and to require children to be covered on their parents' plans until age 26.

It would not change a part of the law that reduces costs for seniors with highprescription drug expenses. Instead, the measure would delay implementation of a requirement for all individuals to purchase heath care coverage or face a penalty, and of a separate feature of the law that will create marketplaces where individuals can shop for coverage from private insurers. By repealing the medical device tax, the Republican measure also would raise deficits — an irony for a party that won the House majority in 2010 by pledging to get the nation's finances under control.

The Senate rejected the most recent House-passed anti-shutdown bill on a party-line vote of 54-44 Friday, insisting on a straightforward continuation in government funding without health care-related add-ons. That left the next step up to the House — with time to avert a partial shutdown growing ever shorter.