Senate GOP drops Obamacare attack

Republicans controlling the Senate are abandoning an effort to use their power over the federal purse strings to block implementation of the Affordable Care Act. The more pragmatic approach came Tuesday on a huge $164 billion spending measure and reflects a hope by top Republicans like Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky to remove veto bait from must-pass spending bills in hopes of advancing them more easily with Democratic support. President Barack Obama has already vetoed separate legislation aimed at repealing the law, and he has easily kept language to “defund Obamacare” out of the final versions of annual funding bills/Associated Press. More here.