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U.S. House Speaker John Boehner on Sunday urged the Senate to take action in a timely manner and pass a stopgap government funding bill in order to avert the first partial government shutdown since 1996.
"If the Senate stalls until Monday afternoon instead of working today, it would be an act of breathtaking arrogance by the Senate Democratic leadership," Boehner said in a statement.
The House of Representatives voted in the early hours on Sunday to pass a short-term government funding bill proposed by Boehner and other Republican leaders to fund the federal government's operations from Oct. 1 through Dec. 15 and delay the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), commonly known as Obamacare, for one year.
The bill passed by the lower chamber of Congress also contained a repeal of the medical device tax in the ACA to fund Obamacare and a measure ensuring service members to get paid in the event of a government shutdown.
"They will be deliberately bringing the nation to the brink of a government shutdown for the sake of raising taxes on seniors' pacemakers and children's hearing aids and plowing ahead with the train wreck that is the president's health care law. The American people will not stand for it," Boehner said.
The 2.3 percent medical device tax, which took effect in January, is levied on manufacturers and importers for sales of medical devices in the nation to fund the implementation of Obamacare.
After the House vote, the road to avoid a possible government shutdown has become tougher. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat, has insisted the upper chamber would rejected any bill derailing Obamacare. White House has also voiced its opposition. The Senate is scheduled not to be in session until Monday afternoon.
