Inside the GOP's big new plan to take down ObamaCare

Forget a government shutdown. The new rumored strategy would hold the country's credit rating hostage in an effort to defund the health-care law.

Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) along with Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), Rep. Lynn Jenkins (R-Kan.), Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and Rep. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) on March
(Image credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

With crucial pieces of the Affordable Care Act set to kick in later this year, some conservative lawmakers have been trying to rally support within the party to shut down the government to block the law, or to force President Obama to scrap it.

That threat — a refusal to pass a budget (or in D.C. jargon, a "continuing resolution") to fund the government until ObamaCare is defeated — hasn't gained traction with the party at large. Yet now, multiple reports say the thinking inside the GOP is to shift the ObamaCare battle from the budget fight to another looming fall showdown: The debt ceiling. (For a refresher, read the Guardian's helpful history of the debt ceiling here.)

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Jon Terbush

Jon Terbush is an associate editor at TheWeek.com covering politics, sports, and other things he finds interesting. He has previously written for Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, and Business Insider.