Here Comes The Next Step In The GOP Civil War: House Vote To Defund Obamacare
The bill is expected to pass in the House, with most Republicans expected to support it with no help from Democrats. It will then head to the Democratic-controlled Senate, where Democrats are expected to have enough votes to strip from the bill the language that defunds Obamacare.
The vote in the House today comes after two weeks of House leadership struggling to find a strategy that avoids a government shutdown but also appeases the ultra-conservative wing of the party that wants to use the threat of a shutdown as a last-ditch effort to stop Obamacare, the implementation of whose main provisions starts next month.
On Wednesday, House Speaker John Boehner gave into the demands of his party's conservative wing and announced that he would bring to the floor a continuing resolution that includes the language defunding Obamacare. The bill keeps the government funded only through Dec. 15.
The bill has caused a significant amount of division between House and Senate Republicans this week. Most of House Republicans' ire has been directed at Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who has pushed the House to take up the cause of defunding Obamacare but admitted Wednesday that his gambit was not likely to succeed in the Senate.
On Friday morning, Rep. Sean Duffy (R-Wis.) said Cruz and other Senate Republicans had "bullied" and "abused" House Republicans into a failed approach.
"You should have been on the floor back in the cloak room," Duffy said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe."
"There was so much anger, so much frustration. Because, again, we've been abused by these guys for so long. What I see happening now is people coming out and calling them out for the hypocrisy of these big, tough conservatives who know how to fight but will never get in the ring."