In partisan spending impasse, Graves seeks to unite GOP

Back from communing with constituents in August, House Republicans last week had “the most unifying moment that our conference has seen in a long time,” in the words of U.S. Rep. Tom Graves of Ranger.

That moment: Squashing a government spending plan floated by leadership and firmly declaring total war on the Affordable Care Act.

Enrollment in the law’s state-based health insurance exchanges begins Oct. 1. That also is when federal government funding expires, and much of the government would shut down unless Congress and President Barack Obama can agree on a spending plan.

Tea party-oriented groups raised some rabble during the August break demanding a denial of funds for the law known as Obamacare, and many Republican lawmakers returned to Washington convinced this was their last best chance to take the legs out from under the law.

On Tuesday, House leaders offered them a vote to defund the health care law while passing a short-term spending bill. But the Senate could strip out the health care law provision before sending it to the president.

Cue revolt.

The House Republicans were sick of show votes. The dozens they’ve staged to dismantle Obamacare have been tossed in the Senate spittoon.

So Graves, one of the most conservative members of the money-disbursing Appropriations Committee, started building support for his alternative.

Graves put forth his plan publicly Thursday, co-signed by 42 colleagues, including Georgia’s Phil Gingrey, Paul Broun, Tom Price, Doug Collins, Austin Scott and Lynn Westmoreland. It would extend government funding for a year, shifting more money to the military while keeping the same overall spending under the “sequestration” cuts, and also postponing implementation of the health care law for a year.

Some of Washington’s most influential conservative pressure groups and thorns in GOP leadership’s side, including Club For Growth, FreedomWorks and Heritage Action for America, quickly jumped on board. House leaders were still gauging members’ support for various options heading into the weekend.

The Senate and White House dismissed the idea, proclaiming that the law would go ahead as planned.

"I had to be very candid with him and I told him directly, all these things they're doing on Obamacare are just a waste of their time," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said after meeting with House Speaker John Boehner, according to The New York Times.

House Republicans point out that the Obama administration already postponed the requirement that all employers with more than 50 employees provide health coverage, among other changes, reason enough to postpone the whole thing.

And Gingrey said he did not think all hope was lost in the Senate, considering there are four Democrats who are running for re-election in Republican-leaning states.

“I would think they would have to look at that very, very closely and certainly at least be tempted to support that,” said Gingrey, who is running for Senate himself.

But even those four votes would only get Republicans to 50, a long way from the 60 needed to break a filibuster.

Democrats argue Republicans are threatening a government shutdown over a law that’s already on the books. Republicans fire back that Democrats are threatening a shutdown to prop up a faulty law.