US House approves controversial government funding bill

The US House of Representatives voted Friday to avoid a government shutdown at the end of the month but tied the measure to the latest of its many attempts to cripple President Barack Obama's landmark health care overhaul.

The 230-189 vote sets the stage for a confrontation with the Democratic-led Senate, which promises to strip a provision to defund Obamacare from the bill next week and will challenge the House to pass it as a straightforward funding bill that the president will sign.

The Republican-controlled House has voted dozens of times to defund the sweeping health care plan. The White House promised Obama would veto the measure in the unlikely event it reaches him.

At issue is the need to pass a short-term funding bill to prevent a partial government shutdown when the budget year ends on Sept. 30. Washington's longstanding budget stalemate has derailed the annual appropriations bills required to fund federal agencies.

A government shutdown would delay pay for federal workers, send nonessential federal workers home, close national parks and shut passport offices. Essential programs like air traffic control, food inspection and the Border Patrol would keep running.

Obama says he won't be forced into making concessions as he did during the 2011 debt crisis, when he accepted $2.1 trillion in spending cuts over 10 years.

Republicans fiercely oppose the Affordable Care Act, the signature legislation of the president's first term, because they see it as a government intrusion into private decision-making.

The law mandates that all US citizen residing in the country who are not incarcerated have health insurance, either provided by an employer or individually purchased.

The rationale behind the requirement is that if someone without health coverage gets expensive care but doesn't pay the bill, "everyone else ends up paying the price," according to the Health Insurance Marketplace website.

Adults who can afford health insurance but don't have coverage after open enrollment ends March 31, 2014, may have to pay a fee -- as well as all costs for any health care they use.

Insurance plans in the marketplace are offered by private companies.

Al Jazeera and wire services