The GOP-created health care crisis continues to drive a wedge between House Republican leadership and their members, demonstrating for the umpteenth time that Trump and Republicans are incapable of delivering for the American people. After announcing a spineless health care ‘plan’ that would do nothing to address the GOP health insurance premium hikes, Republicans have devolved into chaos again. Even though the American people overwhelmingly support continuing the Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits that millions of Americans need to avoid crushing medical costs in the new year, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA-04) refuses to let the House vote to restore those credits. As vulnerable House Republicans know all too well, their party’s insistence on ripping coverage away from working families is a losing strategy. The GOP won’t win any elections by burying their heads in the sand and handing out tax breaks to billionaires while leaving millions of working people without lifesaving health coverage.
NBC News: House Republican Leaders Ditch Vote on ACA Funding, All but Ensuring Premiums Will Rise
- “‘I am pissed for the American people. This is absolute bulls—, and it’s absurd,’ [Rep. Mike] Lawler said Tuesday. “Everybody has a responsibility to serve their district, to serve their constituents. You know what’s funny? Three-quarters of people on Obamacare are in states Donald Trump won. So maybe, just maybe, everybody should look at this and say, ‘How do we actually fix the health care system?’”
Forbes: Affordable Care Act Subsidies Will Expire at End of Year, Johnson Confirms
- “Johnson told reporters lawmakers ‘worked on it all the way through the weekend . . . and in the end there was not an agreement—it wasn’t made.’”
Axios: “It’s Idiotic”: House Moderates Fume at Johnson Over Inaction on ACA
- “Driving the news: ‘It’s idiotic, it’s political malpractice,’ Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) told reporters Tuesday of Johnson refusing to give them an ACA extension vote.”
POLITICO: Mike Johnson Confronted by GOP Moderates Over Obamacare Subsidies
- “A group of vulnerable House Republicans confronted Speaker Mike Johnson inside a closed-door meeting Tuesday about expiring Obamacare health insurance subsidies — and Johnson’s refusal to allow a vote on extending them… The venting session was a remarkable climax to a monthslong debate within the GOP over how to address spiking insurance premiums for millions of Americans starting next year. In the view of many GOP moderates, the Obamacare subsidies are poised to lapse without any comprehensive plan over how to manage the inevitable political fallout ahead of the 2026 midterms… House Democrats are championing an alternative — a straight three-year extension of the expiring subsidies — and are urging a handful of Republicans to join a discharge petition that would force a floor vote on it.”
POLITICO: White House Weighs Risks of a Health Care Fight as ACA Subsidies Set to Expire
- “As congressional Republicans duke out their intraparty divisions on how to address the expiration of some Affordable Care Act subsidies, administration officials don’t believe Trump should engage — more than he already has.”
- “The reluctance to get involved comes amid ongoing dispute among Republicans — including inside the White House — about how politically damaging the subsidies’ expiration would be. Some White House aides believe that extending the subsidies is necessary to avoid a Republican rout in swing districts next November, the people said.”
Punchbowl News: House GOP’s Health Care Week Goes Awry
- “This week — the last of the legislative year — was designed to give House Republicans a way to push back on Democratic attacks that they’re indifferent to skyrocketing health care costs hitting millions of Americans. Instead, the House GOP leadership has facilitated an untimely — and particularly nasty — intraparty brawl, pitting moderates against Republican Party leaders and further strengthening Democrats’ political hand as the Obamacare cliff looms.”
CNN: Speaker Mike Johnson Battles With GOP Centrists Over Expiring Health Care Subsidies
- “It’s all amounting to a politically combustible final week of the year in the US Capitol, with tensions soaring among House Republicans. The centrists argue that Johnson has offered zero options for their party to deal with the looming health care disaster, despite Republicans controlling all of Washington.”
New York Times: Johnson Casts Doubt on Allowing House to Vote to Extend Health Subsidies
- “At a news conference on Tuesday morning, Mr. Johnson said that he would not allow the House to vote on an extension of the subsidies […]. That was an apparent reversal from last week […]. But hours after he rejected any House action — and after a meeting with moderate Republicans who had publicly blasted him — Mr. Johnson suggested the decision had not yet been made, as lawmakers tried to craft a proposal that would appease more conservative members of the party.”
- “Most Republicans are vehemently opposed to the Affordable Care Act, but they have not been able to coalesce around a plan to replace it. And a small group of Republicans from swing districts, alarmed about the political consequences of allowing the subsidies to expire, had been urging Mr. Johnson to allow a vote on allowing them to continue at some level, at least temporarily.”
News From the States: No US House Vote to Extend Health Care Subsidies, Speaker Johnson Says
- “New York Republican Rep. Mike Lawler said in a speech on the House floor that GOP leaders’ decision to let the enhanced ACA tax credits expire was ‘idiotic and shameful,’ especially after changes were added to address fraud and reduce costs.”
NPR: ACA Shoppers Face Sticker Shock as Congress Dithers on Health Care
- “Republicans are split, with many balking at the cost of a straightforward extension, as well as the policy and political implications that might come with a vote to buttress the ACA, which many have long viewed as public enemy No. 1. And a few back various proposals that would extend the tax subsidies, fearing that failing to do so will result in political fallout in next year’s midterm elections.”
Punchbowl News: Johnson’s Health Bill Hits Snag With GOP Moderate Drama
- “Johnson is now facing a rebellion among moderates, which could blow up his health care bill.”
The Hill: Amendment to Extend Obamacare Subsidies Hits Roadblock
- “An agreement between moderate Republicans and GOP leadership in the House to allow a vote on extending expiring Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies is on the rocks as the two sides squabble over the contents of the amendment.”
Daily Kos: Republicans Have Nothing but Excuses for Health Care Failures
- “House Republicans unveiled their latest nonanswers about how they’ll fix rising health care costs caused by their refusal to renew enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits.”
Common Dreams: ‘Gambling With Lives of Their Constituents,’ House GOP Leaders Refuse Vote on ACA Tax Credits
- “Speaking to reporters, Johnson acknowledged that some swing-district Republicans pushed him for a vote on the ACA subsidies as people across the country face sticker shock, with premiums more than doubling on average.”
- “Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) called Johnson’s obstruction of a subsidy vote ‘bullshit’ and ‘political malpractice.’”