The Senate passed a temporary spending bill on Friday to avert a government shutdown, managing to strip the provision included in the bill passed last week, which would have cut funding for Obamacare.
According to CBS News, the bill passed 54-44, and if it passes the Republican majority House as is, will keep the government funded at $986 billion through Nov. 15.
A small group of conservatives have been threatening a government shutdown in their attempts to tear down Obamacare. Among them is Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz, who delivered a 21-hour filibuster Tuesday night into Wednesday morning to delay the Democrat-led Senate’s inevitable decision to restore funding for President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act (ACA) in their revision of the House’s spending bill.
However, it is still unclear whether or not the final spending bill will fund Obamacare. This latest piece of legislation will now pass to the House, which is expected to make a decision this weekend. The House will likely repeal a tax on medical devices, which is used to pay for the ACA, The Associated Press reports. Republicans in the House are also expected to add their own provisions to the bill, for example, a year delay of Obamacare and a push for the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline.
Obama urged the House and Senate to come to a decision, saying “[A shutdown] would throw a wrench into the gears of our economy at a time when those gears have gained some traction. And that’s why many Republican senators and many Republican governors have urged Republicans to knock it off, pass a budget and move on,” The Washington Post writes.