If the U.S. government shuts down again in mid-January, it won’t be because House Republicans are demanding the repeal of the president’s health care law, in a repeat of the standoff that occurred earlier this fall.

“There are no plans to tie a repeal vote to a government funding bill,” a senior House GOP aide told The Huffington Post.

House Republican leaders made similar remarks during the run-up to the Oct. 1 deadline to fund the government, only to reverse course under pressure from conservatives in the party, so it’s worth taking this statement with a grain of salt. But there have been signals that Republicans have come to believe it’s better to let the Affordable Care Act encounter its own struggles than to be seen as demanding its destruction.

The talking points that House Republicans prepared for the Thanksgiving break included a conspicuously bolded line: “Republicans are still committed to full repeal.” But that section was overshadowed by various suggestions of ways lawmakers could attack Obamacare and highlight its shortcomings instead.

More: House Republicans Have ‘No Plans’ to Shut Down the Government Over Obamacare Again