Speaker Boehner: The Senate Must Act
Monday, September 30, 2013
press release
In this week’s Speaker Alert, we want to give you a brief state-of-play on efforts by Republicans in the House of Representatives to keep the federal government running and stop as much of the president’s health care law as possible.
“The House worked late into the night Saturday to prevent a government shutdown,” Speaker Boehner explained earlier. “And the Senate now must move quickly, today, to do the same.”
The plan passed by the House and awaiting action by the Senate would…
- …keep the government running: As Speaker Boehner has said repeatedly, “the American people don’t want the government to shut down,” and Republicans are working to prevent it from happening;
- …delay the president’s health care law for one year: President Obama has already delayed health care mandates on big businesses, and has signed seven bills repealing or defunding other provisions of this train wreck. The House-passed bill delays the law for all Americans. [WATCH OUR VIDEO]
- …permanently repeal ObamaCare’s tax on pacemakers and children’s hearing aids: There’s bipartisan opposition to this tax on critical medical devices which is driving American jobs overseas.
- …protect our troops: The House-passed measure ensures our military men and women get paid no matter what happens in budget negotiations on Capitol Hill.
As of approximately 2:00 PM ET, papers for the House plan had been delivered to the Senate. With a shutdown looming, Senate Democrats are now on the clock.
“If the Senate stalls until Monday afternoon instead of working today, it would be an act of breathtaking arrogance by the Senate Democratic leadership,” said Speaker Boehner. “They will be deliberately bringing the nation to the brink of a government shutdown for the sake of raising taxes on seniors’ pacemakers and children’s hearing aids and plowing ahead with the train wreck that is the president’s health care law. The American people will not stand for it.”
MORE FROM SPEAKER.GOV
- GOP Conference Chair McMorris Rodgers delivers weekly address: Even though the president says he “won’t negotiate," Chair McMorris Rodgers argues that coupling an increase in the debt limit with spending cuts and economic reforms is a common-sense policy with a long bipartisan history.
- 61 percent: By a 2-to-1 margin, the American people reject the president’s call for a “clean” debt limit hike and agree with Republicans that spending cuts and reforms that strengthen our economy should be attached.
- House debt limit plan will reduce deficit, grow the economy: The Joint Economic Committee says the House plan includes “pro-growth policy reforms that will address some of the biggest challenges and opportunities in the American economy,” and contribute to the “goal of reducing federal budget deficits by more than the federal debt ceiling is increased.”
- “Fairness For All”: Our latest video underscores why Senate Democrats should follow the lead of House Republicans and delay the president’s health care law for all Americans – not just big businesses. Watch it here.
