Senate To House: No Thanks. We Want Medical Taxes And Our Exemptions

The brinksmanship continues, with just about 12 hours left to go:

The Senate voted Monday afternoon to kill House Republicans' latest stopgap spending offer, holding firm in their demand that Congress continue to fund Obamacare as part of any government-funding debate.

The 54-46 vote officially tabled both proposals the House GOP passed early Sunday morning, one of which would have funded the government while delaying the health law for a year, and the other of which would have repealed one of the Affordable Care Act's tax increases.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid bundled both of those proposals into a single vote, which made it easier to round up the support to kill them.

Now the measure returns to the House, where Republicans have said they are considering several options to keep the government open past midnight Monday while also making a dent in Obamacare. Earlier in the day Republicans complained that they weren't getting the bill back from the Senate early enough.

"Senate decided not to work yesterday. Well my goodness, if there's such an emergency, where are they?" Speaker John A. Boehner said as he opened Monday's House session.

So, what we have here is the Democrats in the Senate voting to keep higher medical device taxes in place while legally forcing most Americans to pay more for inferior insurance, all while exempting themselves from the system altogether.

House: your move.  Are you going to show a spine, or cave?

Everyone else: now might be a good time to call your Rep again.

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