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Senate approves budget bill, restores ObamaCare funding - Fox News
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Capping a dramatic and chaotic week on Capitol Hill, the Senate on Friday approved a critical budget bill that would fund the government past Sept. 30 -- but only after Democrats succeeded in stripping a Republican-backed provision to defund ObamaCare.
The final vote was 54-44.
The bill now returns to the House, and is seen by some lawmakers as a sort of legislative hot potato. If the two chambers cannot agree on a final bill by midnight on Monday, then the government will shut down. Neither side wants to be left holding the bill if that happens.
House Republicans are under heavy pressure, now, from fellow conservatives to stand by their demand that ObamaCare be defunded, or least delayed.
House Speaker John Boehner already indicated that he will not accept the Senate-passed bill in its current form. The House is expected to take up the legislation starting on Saturday.
Earlier Friday, Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid narrowly won approval to restore funding for ObamaCare. The 54-44 vote fell along party lines.
That was after the Senate voted 79-19 on the initial version of the bill, which in its original form would keep the government open while defunding ObamaCare. Several Republicans joined Democrats in voting "yes" on that vote, ignoring appeals by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and other conservatives to stall the vote.
The first roll call had put Republicans in a difficult position, and prompted a very-public spate of infighting. Tea Party-aligned Republicans like Cruz, who staged a 21-hour anti-ObamaCare speech on the Senate floor this week, argued that Republicans should stop this bill in its tracks. Though the bill technically defunded ObamaCare -- which Cruz and his colleagues wanted -- they argued that since Reid would restore the funding, they should vote "no."
A number of Republicans rejected this logic.
"I don't understand how I can otherwise vote on a matter that I want to see passed," Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said.
Though the test vote put Senate Republicans in a tricky spot, the bigger question is what House Republicans will do next.
The House plans to convene on Saturday to take up the bill. If Republicans stand by their demand that ObamaCare be defunded, delayed or otherwise undermined, then the two chambers could easily be at an impasse by midnight on Monday.
That's when the current government spending bill expires; without a new bill, the government would partially shut down.
Tempers and rhetoric were heated on Friday as Democrats accused their Republican colleagues of playing with legislative fire.
"We are at one of the most dangerous points in our history right now -- every bit as dangerous as the break-up of the Union before the Civil War," said Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa.
But Republicans are treating their push to defund ObamaCare with urgency, in part because a key part of the law is set to go into effect next week.
"It's about showing people we're going to do what we say we're going to," Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, told colleagues, "even when, especially when, it's inconvenient."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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