GOP/HEALTHCARE/OBAMACARE(ACA)/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Trump blew up Republican strategies to keep the government open past Friday [1-12-18] when on Thursday morning he said a long-term extension of the popular Children’s Health Insurance Program should not be part of a stopgap spending bill pending before the House.
With a possible government shutdown looming this weekend, the House had planned to vote late Thursday on a stopgap spending bill that would keep government funding flowing to Feb. 16 as delicate negotiations continue to protect young, undocumented immigrants brought illegally as children from deportation.
Republican leaders have spent the week pressuring Democrats to vote for the spending bill, arguing that opposing it would effectively block a six-year extension of the children’s health program, attached to the spending bill as a sweetener for lawmakers in both parties.
Speaker Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin said on Wednesday that it would be ‘unconscionable’ for Democrats to oppose funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program with a ‘no’ vote on the short-term spending bill.
But Mr. Trump’s tweet appeared to give Democrats a ready excuse to oppose the measure: the president wants the health program severed from the spending bill.
Even if the House manages to pass the bill, the Senate would still need to give its approval in order to avert a shutdown early Saturday morning, and at least nine Democrats are needed to overcome an expected filibuster.”
-Thomas Kaplan, “Trump Upsets Republican Strategy to Avoid Shutdown,” The New York Times online, Jan. 18, 2018