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House Republicans headed for ObamaCare battle

WASHINGTON — House Republicans are headed for a high-stakes confrontation with President Obama over defunding ObamaCare, in a clash that could bring a government shutdown.

House leaders told fellow Republicans Wednesday that they were attaching a plan to defund ObamaCare to a temporary bill to keep the government running. Funding runs out at the end of this month, which is the end of the fiscal year.

“There should be no conversation about shutting the government down. That’s not the goal here,” said House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio).

But it’s almost certain that the Democratic-controlled Senate won’t go along with a plan to kill ObamaCare. If that happens, Republicans are signaling they’ll continue the fight over the bill to increase U.S. borrowing authority to pay the government’s bills.

The president warned that if Republicans block an increase in the $16.7 trillion federal debt limit on borrowing, the country, by mid-October, would default on its obligations for the first time ever.

“What I will not do is to create a habit, a pattern, whereby the full faith and credit of the United States ends up being a bargaining chip to set policy,” he added. He said that he and his colleagues got an earful from constituents about ObamaCare over the summer recess.