WASHINGTON (AP) — House GOP leaders Wednesday announced that they will move quickly to raise the government's borrowing cap by attaching a wish list of GOP priorities like blocking "Obamacare," forcing construction of the Keystone XL pipeline and setting the stage for reforming the loophole-cluttered tax code.
They also, as expected, promised tea party lawmakers a chance to first use a routine temporary government funding bill to try to muscle the Democratic-controlled Senate into derailing President Barack Obama's health care law.
"That fight will continue as we negotiate the debt limit with the president and the Senate," said House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va.
Obama said again that he won't knuckle under to the GOP's demands
The GOP strategy appears to assume that the Senate will strip out the "defund 'Obamacare'" provision and send it back. The House would then face a choice: pass the measure without the health care provision or continue the battle and risk a partial government shutdown when the new budget year begins Oct. 1.