Rapid Fire Oct. 9, 2013: House Defense Faction Wants to Drop Obamacare Fight

US Budget, Or Lack Of

• House Armed Services Committee (HASC) Chairman Buck McKeon [R-CA] wants his party to recognize they’re not going to win the current fight over Obamacare, and go back to addressing sequestration cuts to defense. But if most House Republicans want to reign in the overall budget and roll back the Affordable Care Act as their primary targets, HASC members may be too isolated to exert much influence over the agenda, let alone the outcome of this season’s fiscal fight. The latest plan from the House GOP leadership is another supercommittee – since the one from 2011 worked out so well – but Democrats don’t seem inclined to participate.