One practical problem with that approach is that “defunding” the law won’t eliminate the mandates on insurers that could lead to ever-escalating premiums if the rest of its provisions don’t go into effect. The bigger problem is that Democrats show no signs of caving. If the anti-Obamacare forces in the House refuse to support a temporary funding bill that includes money for the Affordable Care Act, the government will shut down. The last time a Republican-led House forced a shutdown, in 1995 and 1996, it helped Democrats reelect an embattled President Clinton.

The House leadership’s short-term funding plan relies on a procedural gimmick that would force the Senate to vote on defunding Obamacare, although the appropriations for the rest of government wouldn’t depend on the outcome. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) also suggested that the House refuse to raise the federal debt limit unless the main provisions of the Affordable Care Act were delayed until after the 2014 election. But threatening not to raise the debt ceiling is fraught with risk; the last time Republicans did so, in 2011, the stock market tumbled and the economy staggered.

The House GOP’s obsession with Obamacare is really just a sideshow to the long-running fiscal dispute the two sides have been embroiled in since the GOP took control of the House.