A House bill funding the federal government through the rest of the year will not include money to implement healthcare reform, the chamber’s second-ranking Republican said Tuesday.

The original version of the legislation won’t include defunding language, but House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said he expects an amendment will take care of that by the time the House votes on a bill next week.

{mosads}”I expect to see one way or another the product coming out of the House to speak to that, to preclude any funding to be used for that,” Cantor said.

With a vote to repealing healthcare passing in the House but failing in the Senate, defunding the law is part of a multi-prong Republican strategy to weaken President Obama’s signature legislative achievement.

{mosads}If the House passes a bill with defunding language in it, that will set up a battle with the Democratic-controlled Senate on a short deadline. The current resolution funding the government is set to expire March 4.