The White House quickly rejected a plan offered by House Republicans Tuesday on the government shutdown and looming debt ceiling deadline.
“The President has said repeatedly that Members of Congress don’t get to demand ransom for fulfilling their basic responsibilities to pass a budget and pay the nation’s bills. Unfortunately, the latest proposal from House Republicans does just that in a partisan attempt to appease a small group of Tea Party Republicans who forced the government shutdown in the first place," White House spokeswoman Amy Brundage said in a statement. "Democrats and Republicans in the Senate have been working in a bipartisan, good-faith effort to end the manufactured crises that have already harmed American families and business owners. With only a couple days remaining until the United States exhausts its borrowing authority, it’s time for the House to do the same.”
The House GOP proposal, unveiled after a caucus meeting Tuesday, would reopen the government and extend the debt ceiling, but also includes conditions related to the Affordable Care Act.
The Huffington Post's Sam Stein reports:
The bill would fund the government through Jan. 15 and extend the debt limit through Feb. 7. Those are the same lengths of time as the Senate bill would provide.
However, the House bill will have a two-year delay of the medicare device tax and would also end health care subsidies for members of Congress and cabinet officials. The latter provision is a watered down (more humane) version of the Vitter Amendment, which would have ended the health care subsidies for members of Congress and their aides.
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According to Politico, the House bill also would turn off the Treasury's ability to use extraordinary measures to stave off the next debt limit hike, a move that would make the Feb. 7 deadline a hard one. That may end up being the biggest issue for the White House -- lacking logic, the sole purpose of the policy is to up the stakes for the next round of negotiations.
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