WASHINGTON — House and Senate Republicans steamed ahead Tuesday toward likely approval of balanced budget outlines, essential early steps along a path to send President Barack Obama legislation to wipe out his 5-year-old health care law and eliminate deficits within a decade.
Obama is all but certain to veto the follow-up legislation if and when it reaches his desk later this year, but Republican rebels and establishment-minded conservatives alike in the House paid that little mind.
At a news conference, Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the third-ranking GOP leader in the House, cited two reasons for the rank and file to approve the budget, saying it would “get our economy moving again, and also set the stage for a repeal of Obamacare.”
Democrats criticized the plans in both houses, in particular the repeal of the health care law and the billions of dollars in recommended cuts to social programs at the heart of the GOP deficit-reduction program.
Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said the Senate Republicans’ budget protects the super-rich at the same time it “takes health care away from 16.4 million Americans … wreaks havoc on Medicare … makes drastic cuts to Medicaid … and guts nutrition assistance for those in need.”
In a decades-old political ritual used to embarrass presidents of both parties, Senate Republicans forced a vote late in the day on Obama’s budget, which includes higher taxes on the wealthy and smokers, far more spending than Republicans favor and unending deficits.
The plan failed, 98-1, with Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., casting the sole vote in its favor.
A final vote was expected today on the House plan, and late Thursday or early Friday on the Senate’s slightly different version.
Next, Republicans hope to forge a compromise budget quickly, settling on nonbinding targets for spending and taxes. After that would come legislation to implement the plan, a bill that congressional rules say cannot be subjected to a filibuster in the Senate.
