Republicans clinch Democrats’ bid to force vote on health subsidies
- The San Juan Daily Star
- 11 hours ago
- 4 min read
By MICHAEL GOLD
In a striking rebellion against Speaker Mike Johnson, four politically vulnerable House Republicans on Wednesday teamed up with Democrats to force a vote in early 2026 on a three-year extension of expanded Affordable Care Act subsidies that are set to expire at the end of this year.
Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick, Rob Bresnahan Jr., and Ryan Mackenzie, all of Pennsylvania, and Mike Lawler of New York signed onto the Democratic effort just moments before the House voted to bring up Johnson’s health care bill, a narrow package that does not address the subsidies.
Their signatures clinched a Democratic discharge petition pushed by the minority leader, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, to go around Johnson and require a floor vote on the subsidies. The proposal would not see action until January, after the subsidies have expired. And even if it were to succeed in the House, it would be all but certain to die in the Senate, where Republicans blocked a three-year extension last week.
But the Republicans’ maneuver meant that the House would have to weigh in within weeks on the subsidies, and by extension the spike in health care premiums from their expiration. That will prolong a bitter round of Republican infighting over health care policy that threatens to hurt the party during an election year. And it hands Democrats, who spotlighted the expiring subsidies during the long government shutdown fight, more fodder to make their case against the GOP for refusing to address soaring health care costs.
The revolt came the day after Johnson slammed the door on the splinter group’s efforts to secure a vote during Wednesday’s health care debate on a proposal to preserve the subsidies in some form, a step that the vast majority of Republicans oppose.
“We have worked for months to craft a two-party solution to address these expiring health care credits,” Fitzpatrick said in a statement. “Our only request was a floor vote on this compromise, so that the American people’s voice could be heard on this issue. That request was rejected.”
Fitzpatrick and the three others who crossed party lines were part of a group of Republicans from swing districts who had pleaded with Johnson and others in their party to allow a vote on the subsidies that would, at the very least, allow them to show voters they had tried to address them.
They had focused their efforts on shorter-term extensions than the Democratic plan, and their measures included eligibility restrictions that Democrats had opposed.
But after days of discussions, Johnson rejected the idea Tuesday, citing concerns over how to pay for it and whether it should be subject to abortion restrictions sought by many conservative Republicans.
That drove the Republicans seeking a vote into the arms of Democrats, whose discharge petition had been sitting at 214 signatures, short of the 218 needed to force action. In rapid succession Wednesday morning, the four signed on, putting the effort over the top.
In a statement, Lawler made clear that his decision was meant as a signal to leaders that he wanted a vote on the issue, not that he supported the Democrats’ proposal. “This procedural step is not an endorsement of the bill written,” he said.
Even as Republicans held a vote to advance their health care package to the floor, Johnson and his leadership team were still haggling with some defectors who were withholding their votes. At one point, as Rep. Kevin Kiley of California was walking by, Johnson grabbed the sleeve of his suit to pull him into the discussion.
“I have been extremely critical of the House speaker for refusing to put any measure to extend these tax credits on the floor,” Kiley said later. But he also criticized Jeffries for backing an “uncompromising measure” that had “no chance of becoming law” rather than supporting a bipartisan compromise.
Although Republican leaders succeeded in bringing up their measure, one lawmaker who had been pressing for an extension of the subsidies, Rep. Jen Kiggans of Virginia, voted against doing so, in yet another public display of discontent with Johnson’s leadership.
Taken together, the maneuvers suggested that the speaker had lost control of the debate over health care, an issue where Democrats poll strongly and that they plan to focus on during next year’s midterm elections. Johnson, whose grip on his fractious majority has slipped in recent weeks, will now be forced to allow a vote on enhancements to the Affordable Care Act, a law that most Republicans vehemently oppose.
The health care petition is the fourth discharge petition this year to advance because Republicans have joined Democrats to circumvent Johnson.
Such actions were once rare in the House, with rank-and-file lawmakers afraid to publicly buck the speaker. But Johnson insisted the defections were par for the course given Republicans’ slim majority.
“I have not lost control of the House,” he told reporters.