Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) entered into an agreement Wednesday that will speed consideration of the Senate bill to avert a government shutdown.
The Senate next will vote to end debate
surrounding the continuing resolution on Friday morning, then will
engage in up to 30 hours of post-cloture debate and votes on amendments,
and will bring the resolution forward for final passage on Saturday.
Reid recognized Senate staff members for "a remarkably good job" over the past few days.
"I'd like, as I said before, to move this as quickly as I could, we could," Reid said.
Unanimous but far from united, the Senate advanced legislation to
prevent a partial government shutdown on Wednesday, the 100-0 vote
certain to mark merely a brief pause in a fierce partisan struggle over
the future of President Barack Obama's signature health care law.
The vote came shortly after Texas Sen. Ted Cruz held the Senate in
session overnight –- and the Twitterverse in his thrall –- with a
near-22-hour speech that charmed the tea party wing of the GOP,
irritated the leadership and was meant to propel fellow Republican
lawmakers into an all-out struggle to extinguish the law.
Defying one's own party leaders is survivable, he declared in
pre-dawn remarks on the Senate floor. "Ultimately, it is liberating."
Legislation passed by the Republican-controlled House last week would
cancel all funds for the three-year-old law, preventing its full
implementation. But Senate Democrats have enough votes to restore the
funds, and Majority Leader Harry Reid labeled Cruz's turn in the
spotlight "a big waste of time."
Any differences between the two houses' legislation must be
reconciled and the bill signed into law by next Tuesday to avert a
partial shutdown.
The issue is coming to the forefront in Congress as the Obama
administration works to assure a smooth launch for the health care
overhaul's final major piece, a season of enrollment beginning Oct. 1
for millions who will seek coverage on so-called insurance exchanges.
Health and Human Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told reporters this week
that consumers will have an average of 53 plans to choose from, and her
department estimated the average individual premium for a benchmark
policy known as the "second-lowest cost silver plan" would range from a
low of $192 in Minnesota to a high of $516 in Wyoming. Tax credits will
bring down the cost for many.
Republicans counter that the legislation is causing employers to
defer hiring new workers, lay off existing ones and reduce the hours of
still others to hold down costs as they try to ease the impact of the
bill's taxes and other requirements.
"Obamacare is destroying jobs. It is driving up health care costs. It
is killing health benefits. It is shattering the economy," said Cruz.
Topsy, a search engine that's a preferred partner of Twitter,
calculated on its website during the day that there had been about
200,000 tweets containing the words "Ted Cruz" in the previous day.
Eight months in office, he drew handshakes from several conservative
lawmakers as he finished speaking and accolades from tea party and other
groups. Chris Chocola, president of the Club for Growth, said Americans
owe "Cruz a debt of gratitude for standing on principle in the fight to
stop Obamacare."
In addition to the praise, Cruz he drew a withering rebuttal from one fellow Republican, Arizona Sen. John McCain.
McCain read aloud Cruz's comments from Tuesday comparing those who
doubt the possibility of eradicating the health care law to former
British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlin and others who had suggested
Adolf Hitler and the Nazis could not be stopped in the 1940s.
"I resoundingly reject that allegation," said McCain, whose
grandfather led U.S. carrier forces in the Pacific during World War II,
and whose father commanded two submarines.
"It does a great disservice to those Americans who stood up and said `what's happening in Europe cannot stand.'"
Even with the 100-0 vote, the legislation faces several hurdles that
must be overcome as both houses and lawmakers in both parties work to
avoid a partial shutdown next Tuesday.
The struggle over restoring funds for the health care law is by far the most contentious unresolved issue.
Senate Democrats also want to increase funding for federal
firefighting efforts without making offsetting cuts to other programs.
The House-passed bill provides $636 million for the program, but
includes reductions elsewhere to avoid raising the deficit.
To avoid a partial government shutdown, a single, agreed-upon version
must be approved by Congress and signed by Obama by Tuesday. Officials
pointed out that there is still time for the Senate to restore the funds
for the health care law – and for the House to seek a more modest
overhaul concession, perhaps a one-year delay in the requirement for
individuals to purchase coverage or the repeal of a tax on medical
devices that many Democrats oppose.
The shutdown issue is a particularly haunting one for Republicans,
some of whom were in Congress two decades ago when the GOP suffered
politically as the result of a pair of government closures in the winter
of 1995-1996.
In a further complication, Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew told Congress
that the Treasury's ability to borrow funds will be exhausted on Oct.
17, and legislation is needed to renew its authority if the government
is to avoid a first-ever default.
The House is expected to approve a measure later this week allowing
Treasury to borrow freely for another year, although that legislation,
too, will include a provision to carry out the Republican campaign
against "Obamacare." While no final decisions have been made, party
officials say a one-year delay is likely to be added, rather than the
full-fledged defunding that is part of the spending bill awaiting action
in the Senate.
If the events themselves were complicated, the political maneuvering was no less so.
At least temporarily, they pitted Cruz and his tea party allies
inside Congress and out against the party establishment, including House
Speaker John Boehner and the Senate GOP leader, Mitch McConnell of
Kentucky.
Little more than a week ago, conservatives in the House rank and file
forced Boehner and other leaders to include the defunding provision on
legislation required to avoid a shutdown, despite their concerns that it
would set the party up for failure.
Within hours after the measure cleared the House, Cruz infuriated his
allies by virtually conceding he wouldn't have the votes to prevail in
the Senate, and stating that "At that point, House Republicans must
stand firm, hold their ground and continue to listen to the American
people."
Cruz appeared at a news conference the next day to proclaim he would
do "everything and anything possible to defund Obamacare," including a
possible filibuster of legislation to prevent a shutdown.
Senate Republicans were less than enthusiastic about that, and
several said so and made it clear they would not follow the path that
Cruz laid out of seizing every opportunity to slow or stop the bill. By
Tuesday, the Texan was under pressure from fellow Senate Republicans to
let the legislation pass relatively quickly, to make sure the government
stayed open.
When he began his remarks, he vowed to speak in opposition until "I am no longer able to stand."
Nearly 24 hours later, he offered to shorten the time it would take
to debate the measure and voted along with Republicans and Democrats
alike to send it over its first hurdle.