WASHINGTON — Even before a budget deadline arrives, leaders from both parties are blaming each other for a government shutdown that many are treating as inevitable.
The top Democrat in the House says Republicans are ‘‘legislative arsonists’’ who are using their opposition to a sweeping health care overhaul as an excuse to close government’s doors. A leading Tea Party antagonist in the Senate counters that conservatives should use any tool available to stop the Affordable Care Act from taking hold.
The unyielding political posturing on Sunday comes one week before Congress reaches an Oct. 1 deadline to dodge any interruptions in government services. Although work continues on a temporary spending bill, a potentially more devastating separate deadline looms a few weeks later when the government could run out of money to pay its bills.
‘‘This is totally irresponsible, completely juvenile and, as I called it, legislative arson. It’s just destructive,’’ the House Democratic leader, Nancy Pelosi, said in an interview that aired Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.’’
The Republican-led House on Friday approved legislation designed to wipe out the 3-year-old health care law that President Obama has vowed to preserve. But the House’s move was more a political win than a measure likely to be implemented.
Across the Capitol, the Senate Democratic leader, Harry Reid, said he would keep the health law intact despite Republicans’ attempts, in his words, ‘‘to take an entire law hostage simply to appease the Tea Party anarchists.’’
One of those Tea Party activists, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, showed little sign on Sunday that he cared about the uphill climb to make good on his pledge to derail the health care law over Obama’s guaranteed veto.
‘‘I believe we should stand our ground,’’ Cruz said on “Fox News Sunday,’’ suggesting that the blame would be on Obama and his Democratic allies if the government shuts down.
Senator Claire McCaskill, a Missouri Democrat, said Cruz’s efforts were destructive and self-serving as he eyes a White House campaign.
‘‘I cannot believe that they are going to throw a tantrum and throw the American people and our economic recovery under the bus,’’ she said on the Fox program.
‘‘This is about running for president with Ted Cruz. This isn’t about meaningful statesmanship,’’ she added.
The wrangling over the budget comes as lawmakers consider legislation that would let the United States avoid a first-ever default on its debt obligations. House Republicans are planning legislation that would attach a 1-year delay in the health care law in exchange for ability to increase the nation’s credit limit of $16.7 trillion.
Obama, speaking to political allies on Saturday, showed little patience for the GOP efforts to undermine his legislative accomplishment.
‘‘We will not negotiate over whether or not America should keep its word and meet its obligations,’’ Obama told the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation dinner. ‘‘We’re not going to allow anyone to inflict economic pain on millions of our own people just to make an ideological point.’’ Congress does not seem eager to help Obama, although there are deep divides over who deserves blame.
Representative Tom Graves, a Georgia Republican, said the goal was to defund the president’s health care legislation for at least one more year, if not forever. ‘‘We do have eight days to reach a resolution on this, and I propose an idea that kept the government operating and opened for an entire year while delaying and defunding Obamacare for a year so that we could work out those differences,’’ Graves said.