House To Vote On Stopgap Funding Bill, Obamacare

The GOP-controlled House is cruising toward a vote to gut President Barack Obama's health care plan as part of a temporary funding bill to prevent a partial government shutdown on Oct. 1.

While raising the possibility of a government closure, the latest GOP plan is actually aimed at avoiding one. GOP leaders are looking to shift the fight over health care to even more important legislation required to prevent the government from defaulting on its financial obligations.

Even top advocates of the strategy to defund what they call "Obamacare" by attaching it to a stopgap government funding bill acknowledge it has no future in the Democratic-controlled Senate. Senate Democrats have the votes to strip off the health care provision and kick the stopgap measure right back to the House.

BUDGET-HOUSE REPUBLICANS

NEW: Emboldened House GOP press fight on 'Obamacare'

WASHINGTON (AP) — Emboldened conservatives who forced House Republican leaders to push for a stopgap spending bill that would unravel President Barack Obama's health care law are digging in for a long fight, determined to stop the program before the first individual signs up in less than two weeks.

Conservative North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows says, "Our resolve on this is unrelenting."

Meadows helped spur his colleagues to pressure the GOP leadership on the tea party's signature issue, writing a letter in July to House Speaker John Boehner that called for stopping the Obama plan.

Lobbied hard by outside conservative groups such as Club for Growth, Republicans turned the letter into legislation. More than 140 Republicans signed on to the bill to keep the government running and delay the health care law.