Jeffries calls on Johnson to put 3-year extension on the floor "immediately"
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called on House Speaker Mike Johnson to hold a vote on Democrats' three-year extension of the enhanced premium tax credits "immediately." Johnson could bypass the seven-day legislative waiting period for a member to bring the discharge petition to the floor, but the GOP leader has been adamantly opposed to an extension.
"Our bipartisan petition to force a vote on a straightforward extension of the Affordable Care Act tax credits now has 218 signatures," the New York Democrat wrote on X. "Mike Johnson should bring the bill to the floor immediately."
Democrats' discharge petition reaches 218 signatures, enough to force a vote on 3-year extension
GOP Reps. Robert Bresnahan and Ryan Mackenzie of Pennsylvania became the third and fourth Republicans to sign onto Democrats' discharge petition to force a vote on extending the ACA tax credits, bringing the petition to the 218-signature threshold needed to circumvent leadership and bring the bill to floor.
The next actions on the petition remain unclear. Discharge petitions have a waiting period of seven legislative days, and the House is set to leave town later this week for the holidays, meaning a vote wouldn't occur until the new year. But the move puts pressure on House Speaker Mike Johnson to bring up a vote on extending the ACA tax credits.
GOP Rep. Dan Newhouse, who voted to impeach Trump, announces retirement
Rep. Dan Newhouse, a Republican of Washington, announced that he will not seek reelection in 2026. Newhouse was one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach President Trump in the aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
"After over 25 years of public service, including more than a decade in the House, I am grateful to the Washingtonians who put their faith in me, as well as the colleagues I have served with on both sides of the aisle," Newhouse said in a statement.
Newhouse, who was first elected in 2014, joins more than two dozen other House GOP members who have announced their retirement or resignations this year, according to a tally from Axios.
Newhouse is one of two GOP members who voted to impeach Mr. Trump and are still in Congress, the other being Rep. David Valadao of California.
Lawler signs Democrats' discharge petition after Fitzpatrick
Rep. Mike Lawler, a New York Republican, became the second member of his party to sign onto Jeffries' discharge petition to force a vote on a three-year extension of the ACA tax credit. Lawler has been one of the GOP members pushing leadership for a vote on extending the subsidies.
Updated 46m agoFitzpatrick becomes first Republican to sign Democrats' discharge petition
GOP Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania became the first Republican to sign onto House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries' discharge petition Wednesday morning. With support from all Democrats, the petition needs three more signatures to force a vote on a measure to extend the enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies for three years without reforms.
Fitzpatrick, who was among the moderate Republicans who have advocated for an amendment vote on the ACA tax credits, warned during a Rules Committee meeting Tuesday that the only thing worse than a clean extension would be allowing the tax credits to expire without a bridge for the millions of Americans who rely on the subsidies.
Should the discharge petition receive enough support, it would still arrive too late to force action on the tax credits this year. The maneuver, which would circumvent GOP leadership, requires a waiting period of seven legislative days before a final vote, and the House is set to leave town at the end of the week for the holidays.
100,000 people per year would lose health insurance under GOP plan, CBO says
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that an average of 100,000 fewer people per year from 2027 to 2035 would have health insurance under the Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act.
The legislation would lower gross benchmark premiums by 11% on average through 2035 and reduce the deficit by $35.6 billion through 2035, according to the CBO.
"That decrease is driven by a reduction in the premium tax credit of $131.1 billion and an increase in outlays for cost-sharing reductions of $91.8 billion, partially offset by $2.6 billion in other effects," according to the estimate.
House Rules Committee blocks moderates' amendments from floor consideration
An 11th-hour effort by moderate Republicans to put an extension on the floor for a vote failed Tuesday night when the House Rules Committee blocked several of the amendments they were seeking to attach to the health care bill.
GOP Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Mike Lawler of New York and Nick LaLota of New York appeared before the committee to push for an amendment vote.
"There will be consequences if these amendments are not made in order. I think the only thing worse than a clean extension without any income limits and any reforms — because it's not a perfect system — the only thing worse than that would be expiration," Fitzpatrick said.
In a 6 to 4 party-line vote, Republicans on the committee voted to block their consideration.
Moderate Republicans clash with Johnson over lack of plan to address expiring tax credits
GOP moderates clashed with House Speaker Mike Johnson on Tuesday over the lack of a plan to address the expiring tax credits.
Moderates are perplexed at the decision to not hold a vote on an extension ahead of the Dec. 31 deadline, and have warned of the political ramifications of allowing insurance premiums to soar for more than 20 million Americans.
"I am pissed for the American people. This is absolute bulls--t," Republican Rep. Mike Lawler of New York told reporters after leaving a GOP conference meeting Tuesday morning.
Lawler called it a "tremendous mistake" to not address the expiring tax credits.
"The Democrats want to use this as an issue in the election, and seemingly the Republican leadership is going to allow them to do it. And it's idiotic," he said.
Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, said at his weekly news conference that there would not be a vote this week on an extension. The decision was a reversal from Friday, when a leadership aide said an amendment vote would be allowed.
"We looked for a way to try to allow for that pressure-release valve, and it just was not to be. We worked on it all the way through the weekend," Johnson said, adding that ultimately "an agreement wasn't made."
Later Tuesday, a meeting with moderates and Johnson appeared to get heated, though the speaker downplayed it as "collegial."
"We're all trying to solve very complicated questions and challenges, and sometimes there's frustration with the process," he said.
What the House GOP health care bill would do
The Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act would expand association health plans, in which multiple employers band together to purchase coverage and lower the costs of benefits. It would also fund cost-sharing reduction payments meant to lower premiums for some enrollees of Affordable Care Act exchanges, and require more transparency from pharmacy benefit managers in an effort to lower drug costs.
House Republican leadership unveiled their plan last Friday.
"Every policy you're going to see in this bill has received a vote in the House under a Republican majority, and every provision has had bipartisan support in the past," a House Republican leadership aide said last week.
The aide added that there wasn't "any specific coordination" with the Senate on the legislation. There were two failed votes on competing plans in the upper chamber last week.
