President Obama will reject any legislation that defunds or delays the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, White House press secretary Jay Carney said at a press briefing Thursday.
Congress needs to pass a funding bill free of "politically motivated riders," Mr. Carney said in response to a question about the ongoing debate among lawmakers regarding a government spending measure. Conservative legislators are demanding that any spending bill include a provision to defund the healthcare reform law.
Earlier this week, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) put forth a plan that would involve sending the Senate a stopgap spending bill along with a separate resolution to defund the healthcare reform law that would amend the spending bill. This would allow a vote on defunding the PPACA, but the Senate could choose to pass only the spending bill and reject the resolution that would halt the reform law's implementation.
However, conservatives have criticized this plan, and a scheduled vote on the potential spending bill has been delayed due to Republican leaders' failure to gather enough votes to approve the measure. Congress must pass a funding bill by Oct. 1 to prevent a government shutdown.
More Articles on PPACA Opposition:
Conservative Push to Defund PPACA Delays Spending Bill Vote
Republicans Could Revive Old Strategy on PPACA With Stopgap Bill
Republicans Consider Connecting PPACA Delay to Debt Limit