House Speaker Paul Ryan and his team will float several options to try to secure Republicans votes on what will be the fourth spending stopgap since September | Susan Walsh/AP photo House GOP leaders may target Obamacare to avoid shutdown The move is intended to persuade Republicans to support another short-term government funding bill.

House GOP leaders may load up a temporary government funding bill with Obamacare tax delays in a bid to win over reluctant Republicans and avoid a shutdown at week’s end.

Speaker Paul Ryan and his team will huddle with rank-and-file GOP lawmakers in what’s expected to be a contentious conference meeting Tuesday night. Senior Republican sources say GOP leaders will float several options to try to secure Republicans votes on what will be the fourth spending stopgap since September — an embarrassing practice that Republicans say puts the military at risk.


Leaders will pitch a delay of the medical device tax, a loathed Obamacare levy on equipment such as defibrillators and surgical tools. The tax has been delayed for two years but went back into effect on Jan. 1. They’ll also discuss again delaying the law’s health insurance tax, which is now going into effect after a one-year delay.

A third tax potentially in the cross-hairs: the so-called Cadillac tax on high-cost health insurance plans favored by labor unions.

It’s unclear whether such measures will win the 218 GOP votes needed to pass a stopgap through the House. Defense hawks have threatened to vote against additional short-term funding measures they say hurt the nation’s military readiness. And conservatives are already unhappy with a looming increasing in government spending as well as the direction of immigration negotiations.

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Facing GOP resistance, Republican leaders are also expected to also discuss another option: adding six years of funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program designed to draw Democratic votes.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is expected to whip her caucus against helping Republicans get the votes needed for passage. But Republicans hope the CHIP attachment may entice some House Democrats, particularly Congressional Black Caucus members, to peel off.

In December, when GOP leaders attached a short-term CHIP provision to the bill funding the government through Jan. 19, some Democrats privately complained about voting against the measure. Opposing a six-year funding measure — which goes well beyond December’s six-month patch — would be even more difficult for these Democrats, Republicans believe.

Health industry groups have been fighting the Obamacare taxes since the law passed in 2010, and many of the taxes have been delayed several times already.

Industry groups — with the backing of lawmakers whose states have big medical device or health insurance companies — were trying to get further delays into a government spending bill late last year but came up short.

It is unclear how including Obamacare tax delays in a government funding bill would play in the Senate.

Republicans oppose all the Obamacare taxes but are loath to completely repeal them without getting something else in return. They argue that Democrats were the ones who enacted the taxes, especially the Cadillac tax that hits labor unions traditionally aligned with Democrats.

The medical device tax would be the easiest to get through either chamber. A House bill to repeal the tax has 262 cosponsors, well over the 218 needed. In the Senate, many Democrats from states with a big device industry — such as Indiana, Pennsylvania, Minnesota and Massachusetts — have already gone on the record in support of axing it.

At least nine Democrats will need to join all Republican for any spending measure to overcome a potential Senate filibuster.

The medical device and health insurance taxes were delayed through 2017 but went back into effect on Jan. 1. The Cadillac tax is not due to go into effect until 2020 but employer groups and labor unions say they need more than a year to prepare for a potentially big spike in costs if the tax takes effect.

