Sep 20, 2013

U.S. House of Representatives derails Obamacare, lines form for new Apple iPhone, blue sheep art project in Germany and more in today’s daily brief.

: A fisherman heads out for a day of fishing on Liberty Reservoir in the early morning fog. In the background is Route 26, Liberty Road, overpass. (Robert K. Hamilton/Baltimore Sun)

: The Coast Guard Barque Eagle arrives at the Inner Harbor for a three day visit to the city. The ship is holding public tours this weekend. (Barbara Haddock Taylor/Baltimore Sun)

: Crew members of the USCGC Coast Guard Barque Eagle furl a sail as the ship arrives at the Inner Harbor for a three day visit to the city. Public deck tours will available during the ship’s visit on Saturday and Sunday from 10:00am to 7:00pm. The tall ship has a crew of six officers and 56 enlisted crew carrying an additional 12 officers and 150 cadets for seamanship training, some from Coast Guard Academy. Though the primary mission is training The Eagle makes ports-of-call in foreign countries as a goodwill ambassador. (Barbara Haddock Taylor/Baltimore Sun)

: U.S. Speaker of the House Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) celebrates as he speaks during a rally as other House Republicans look on after a vote September 20, 2013 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. The House has passed a spending bill 230-189 that defunds the Obamacare and keeps the government running until December 15, 2013. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

: Members of different Amazonian tribes occupy the headquarters of Brazil’s Indian affairs bureau FUNAI as they protest a court decision to evict them from a nearby plot of land they have been occupying for several weeks, in Manaus September 19, 2013. (Bruno Kelly/Reuters)

: People rest in a tent at an evacuation center for residents displaced during fighting between government soldiers and Muslim rebels of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in Zamboanga city, southern Philippines September 20, 2013. Police said that the death toll has reached 117 and displaced around 118,000 people. (Erik De Castro/Reuters)

: A doll lies amid debris on the front line in the Saif al-Dawla district of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on September 19, 2013. US Secretary of State John Kerry urged China to play a “positive, constructive” role at the United Nations on a resolution to rein in Syria’s chemical weapons. (JM Lopez/AFP/Getty Images)

: Leader of UKIP Nigel Farage addresses delegates during his keynote speech on September 20, 2013 in London, England. Members of the United Kingdom Independent Party have gathered at Central Hall, Westminster for the annual conference. (Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

: A full moon sets behind the Washington Monument September 20, 2013 in Washington, DC. The monument is currently covered with scaffolding for repairs following a 5.8 magnitude earthquake that struck the Northeast in August 2011. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

: U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel (R) and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin E. Dempsey participate in a ceremony to honor POW and MIA’s at the Pentagon, September 20 2013 in Arlington, Virginia. President Barack Obama has issued a proclamation declaring Sept. 20, 2013 National POW/MIA Recognition Day. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

: In this photograph taken on August 23, 2013, a Tamil woman walks in the north western village of Udappuwa, from which many people have travelled illegally to Australia, making Udappuwa one of the hot spots for illegal migration. As Australia’s new government launches tough measures to halt asylum seekers arriving on boats, some dirt-poor fishermen and their families half a world away in Sri Lanka seem undeterred. (Lakruan Wanniarchchi/AFP/Getty Images)

: Legia Warsaw’s supporters cheer up their team during the UEFA Europa League match SS Lazio vs Legia Warsaw on September 19, 2013 at the Olympic stadium in Rome. (Gabriel Bouys/AFP/Getty Images)

: Turkish police stand in front of fireworks thrown by demonstrators during a protest on September 19, 2013 outside the Middle East Technical University (METU) in Ankara. (Adem Altana/AFP/Getty Images)

: Indian Border Security Force (BSF) recruits take the oath during their passing out parade in Humhama, on the outskirts of Srinagar on September 20, 2013. (Tauseef Mustafa/AFP/Getty Images)

: Israeli soldiers detain a Palestinian during scuffles following an attempt by European diplomats to deliver goods to locals in the West Bank herding community of Khirbet al-Makhul, in the Jordan Valley September 20, 2013. (Abed Omar Qusini/Reuters)

: People queue outside an Apple store to purchase the new iPhone 5s and 5c in Hong Kong on September 20, 2013. Apple acolytes got their hands on new iPhones in the global roll-out of two new models, but failure to make headway in China and complaints about the price struck a sour note. (Laurent Fievet/AFP/Getty Images)

: A Pakistani sharped herds sheep through a tunnel on the outskirts of Islamabad on September 20, 2013. Pakistan is in the grip of its worst energy crisis in modern history which causes power outages up to 20 hours in parts of the country and has hammered industrial output. (Farooq Naeem/AFP/Getty Images ORG XMIT:

: A historic Leica camera, created by Oskar Barnack is seen on display in a glass cabinet at the showroom of German camera manufacturer Leica Camera AG at their production site in Solms on September 19, 2013. Leica produces its M, S and X series at their headquarters in Solms. (Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters)

: The art project ‘Blue Peace Flock’ by artists Rainer Bonk and Bertamaria Reetz is pictured in Hamburg-Wilhelmsburg, September 20, 2013. The installation of 100 blue sheep sculptures symbolizing that ‘everyone is equal and everybody is important’ is on display until Sunday. (Fabian Bimmer/Reuters)

House passes bill to kill Obamacare, avert government shutdown
Reuters, 12:07 PM EDT, September 20, 2013

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The House of Representatives on Friday passed legislation to fund federal agencies from October 1 to December 15 while also derailing the healthcare law known as “Obamacare,” ignoring warnings from Democrats that they will kill the Republican initiative.

In a partisan vote of 230-189, the Republican-controlled House sent the measure to the Senate where Democrats hold a majority. They will try to delete the Obamacare provision and send the spending bill back to the House for passage by September 30 in order to prevent government shutdowns the following day.

House Republicans have now voted 42 times over the past few years to kill or significantly alter President Barack Obama’s healthcare reforms, which aim to provide medical insurance for millions of Americans. Each time, the Senate has ignored the work of Republicans in the House.

But this time, they have attached the measure to a must-do bill that funds many government agencies in the fiscal year starting October 1. If the House and Senate fail to resolve their differences by then, these agencies would have to shut down until the legislative dispute is resolved.

The Senate is expected to debate the bill next week, which would maintain strict, across-the-board spending cuts that were laid out as part of a 2011 deficit-reduction law.

Besides the need to quickly approve the spending measure, Congress also is fighting over separate legislation to raise the limit on U.S. borrowing authority.

Lawmakers are staring down a floating deadline of sometime in October or early November to either pass a measure or hurl the U.S. government into its first credit default.

(Reporting By Richard Cowan and Thomas Ferraro; Editing by Mohammad Zargham and Grant McCool)

Sept. 20 Photo Brief: House derails Obamacare, lines form for new Apple iPhone, blue sheep

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