You may know better than me, but I don’t think that is how “defunding” works.
Its not a Bill that says “we are not funding this program”, the defunding comes about because the spending authorization is simply NOT included in appropraitions. Nobama could veto the Appropraitions Bill, but because he has no Line Item Veto, the entire spending Bill is vetoed and he will in effect shut down that portion of government covered by the Bill. Of course this scenario requires us to regain the majority in the House.
If we regain majority in the house, nobama is hamstrung. If we regain a Veto Proof majority he’s a Lame Duck.
The appropriations bill for 2011 - what funds the Government through September 2011 - is passed in September/October of this year. Before the GOP could take over. The budget for Obamacare for the next 16 months is fully under the control of the Democrats, and is all that’s needed.
Obamacare is really starting to roll by the end of 2011, which would be when the first GOP appropriations bills would pass. And remember, Obamacare spends essentially zero on care until 2013, but it has massive restructuring of regulations and business in anticipation of the payout starting in 2013. The Sec HHS is the one who sets these rules, and uses existing funds to do so. Meaning that business must start meeting new laws, but the Government doesn’t have to spend any dollars yet.
It’s a brilliant - if sadistic - plan to force Obamacare regardless of what happens in November. All the required spending will be done by September 2011 before a GOP majority gets into the Congress, and regulations are completely set and operating literally 3 weeks before a new President could be sworn in.
Go read the dates chosen in the bill, and then ask yourself what’s so important about those specifically chosen dates. They were chosen to guarantee that the next Congress can do nothing about the implementation of the plan.
No, the only way to scale back Obamacare is to get a full bill through the White House. And the soonest that can happen is 3 weeks after the entire plan - including the payouts of benefits, the restructuring of all plans, the closing/consolidating of insurance agencies - starts running.