House won’t fund healthcare overhaul, Eric Cantor says, setting stage for showdown

WASHINGTON -- Funding for President Obama’s healthcare law will be stripped from legislation to keep the government running for the remainder of the fiscal year, a House GOP leader said Tuesday, setting up a showdown with Senate Democrats and the White House that could risk a government shutdown.

Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), the majority leader, said he expected the spending bill the House intended to approve next week will be amended to prohibit funds for the healthcare overhaul, the signature achievement of the president and congressional Democrats. Such a bill is not likely to pass the Senate.

“I expect to see, one way or another, the product coming out of the House to speak to that and to preclude any funding to be used for that,” Cantor said.

Congress faces a March 4 deadline to pass a spending bill for the remainder of the fiscal year as the current legislation expires. Democrats in the Senate would be unlikely to go along with steep cuts to the president’s healthcare overhaul, forcing a standoff between the two chambers. To avoid a government shutdown, Congress could be forced to approve a short-term funding mechanism until the issue is resolved.

The House GOP’s bill has not yet been released, but Republican leaders have said the spending package will cut 9% from 2010 levels for non-security discretionary accounts for the remaining seven months of this fiscal year. The cuts fall short of the GOP’s promised $100 billion in reductions this year.

Specific cuts to prohibit the implementation of Obama’s healthcare reforms were not expected in the bill but would be offered during the amendment process, Cantor said. Republicans are under pressure from conservative and “tea party” voters to overturn or gut the healthcare law. Cantor pointed to a proposal from Rep. Dennis Rehberg (R-Mt.) to eliminate the health funds.

Rehberg, a six-term congressman, announced last weekend he intended to run for Senate in 2012, challenging Sen. Jon Tester, a Democrat, who is in his first term.

lmascaro@tribune.com