Government Shutdown 2012: Reid's Guy Calls Boehner's People

The House set the stage for a possible government shutdown Saturday by passing H.R. 1, a continuing resolution with many amendments that will please opponents of the Affordable Care Act – the federal legislative package that includes the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) – but are likely to run into turbulence in the Senate, which has a Democratic majority. If Republicans can get a continuing resolution with anti-PPACA amendments to their liking through the Senate, President Obama seems likely to veto it.

Some PPACA-related amendments H.R. 1 include:

• A ban on use of funds in the bill from being used to implement the PPACA individual health insurance ownership mandate. (Rep. JoAnn Emerson, R-Mo.)
• A ban on use of bill funds to pay salaries at the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight – the new U.S. Department of Health and Human Services agency that is supposed to implement PPACA. (Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Texas)
• A ban on paying government officials to issue the regulations needed to implement the “essential benefits” provisions in PPACA Section 1302. (Rep. Joseph Pitts, R-Pa.)
• A ban on funding a new PPACA independent payment advisory board that is supposed to weigh in on Medicare payment rules. (Rep. Nan Hayworth, R-N.Y.)

This week, while Congress is off, Reid, D-Nev., plans to supplement Krone’s work by introducing a measure that would extend the current operations of the government for 30 days beyond March 4. He says the measure would reflect $41 billion in cuts from President Obama’s fiscal year 2011 budget request. Senate Republicans and Democrats agreed to accept that funding level in December 2010, Reid says.