Republicans, the Budget and 'Obamacare' Do Not Mix Well

Five days before the end of the 2013 fiscal year, Congress is unable to reach an agreement on the 2014 budget. The health care reform, which will go into effect on the Jan. 1, is the main cause for the stalemate.

Ted Cruz stood and spoke for more than 20 hours to defend his cause. This GOP member of Congress, who is also a member of the tea party, took the floor last Tuesday before the Senate to protest against the health care reform, nicknamed “Obamacare.” On Oct. 1, the main provisions of Obamacare will go into effect.

Ted Cruz’s near desperate act shows the tea party’s fierce opposition to this reform, which should provide the entire American population with health insurance and is Obama’s most significant reform since he was voted into office in 2008.

While the U.S. still does not have a budget for the 2014 fiscal year, which begins on Oct. 1, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives recently voted on a stopgap spending bill, a measure that has greatly angered Democrats, who hold a majority in the Senate. They have good reason to be angry: The stopgap spending bill, which will finance the country until Dec. 15, was passed to avoid the partial closure of certain nonessential federal agencies — museums, parks, certain administrative services, research centers — but plans on defunding the key reform of the health care system.

“I want to be absolutely crystal clear: any bill that defunds Obamacare is dead, dead,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., in response to the stopgap bill. Reid has told the Senate that it should adopt its own version of the budget by Sunday at the latest. It should amend the bill with a view of re-establishing the funding for the health care reform and shortening the duration of the stopgap spending bill to Nov. 15.

Do Republicans Really Want To Block the Implementation of a New Budget?

Ted Cruz has appealed to Republican senators, inviting them to thwart efforts of passing a budget during this weekend’s vote. His appeal, however, will most likely be ignored. “But I can tell you, in the United States Senate, we will not repeal or defund Obamacare,” declared Republican John McCain. He is not alone in thinking this way. Republicans do not actually wish to shut down the government, as they did in 1995 under Bill Clinton. At the time, the shutdown was a drastic move that damaged the Republicans’ image.

Many Republicans have repudiated Ted Cruz and his fellow tea party collaborators. These moderate Republicans are hoping that the law can be quickly and irrevocably voted in before the deadline on the evening of Sept. 30.

Indeed, Ted Cruz’s strategy is to slow down proceedings as much as possible before the debate in the Senate. The result will be symbolic. “The only way to truly take back most of the money allocated to Obamacare would be to repeal the whole law,” explained CBS. Even if the Republicans pass a budget defunding “Obamacare,” the administration could draw from other resources to compensate for the shortfall:

“The administration could shift around resources in order to make up for the shortfall — a move it’s already taken to fund its Obamacare priorities.”

It seems that the opponents of the health care reform have really lost this time around.