With the possibility of a bipartisan Senate plan in the works, there is less and less resistance among House Republicans to negotiate. However, Paul Ryan (R-WI) is still giving pushback to the prospect and rallied Tea Partiers for his cause.
Yesterday, fiscal negotiations stalled in Congress and were moved from the Republican-controlled House to the Democrat-controlled Senate. A plan by Senate Republican Susan Collins (Maine) was proposed, but where it saw bipartisan support, it saw as much nitpicking from both sides of the aisle. The plan would fund the government at its current level and would extend the Treasury’s borrowing until the end of next January.
Ryan wants to keep up the useless fight against the Affordable Care Act and claims that Republicans need to use the crisis as “leverage.” Ryan also said that adopting Collins’ plan would lose the GOP that leverage. He wants to use this leverage to rally against birth control, which the Affordable Care Act would have employers “provide no-cost contraception” to those covered, by including a “conscience clause” that would allow employers to deny such coverage for moral or religious reasons.
There’s a provision in the Affordable Care Act stating that religious-based organizations can bypass direct coverage of contraception, but policyholders can still receive free contraceptives straight from the insurance company.
Frustration has visited the Republicans as they have mostly turned their noses up at, what House Appropriations Committee Chair Hal Rogers has dubbed, the “Obama-Collins bill.” However, President Obama and Democrats still remain strong in their refusal to negotiate with the Republicans.
Joshua de Leon is a writer and researcher with Ring of Fire.
