Four Moderate House Republicans Sign Petition to Force Vote on Obamacare Subsidies
The four Republicans represent swing districts. They could face tough reelections next year.
Four moderate House Republicans signed Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ petition to force a vote on the expiring Obamacare subsidies: Pennsylvania Reps. Rob Bresnahan Jr., Brian Fitzpatrick, Ryan Mackenzie, and New York Rep. Mike Lawler.
A discharge petition needs 218 signatures.
All 214 Democrats, plus the four Republicans, bring it to 218 signatures.
The four Republicans represent swing districts. They could face tough reelections next year.
Bresnahan Jr. wrote on X:
Despite our months-long call for action, leadership on both sides of the aisle failed to work together to advance any bipartisan compromise, leaving this as the only way to protect the 28,000 people in my district from higher costs.
Families in NEPA cannot afford to have the rug pulled out from under them. Doing nothing was not an option, and although this is not a bill I ever intended to support, it is the only option remaining.
I urge my colleagues to set politics aside, put people first, and come together around a bipartisan deal.
Despite our months-long call for action, leadership on both sides of the aisle failed to work together to advance any bipartisan compromise, leaving this as the only way to protect the 28,000 people in my district from higher costs.
Families in NEPA cannot afford to have the…
— Congressman Rob Bresnahan Jr. (@RepBresnahan) December 17, 2025
“We have worked for months to craft a two-party solution to address these expiring healthcare credits,” Fitzpatrick said, according to Politico. “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. … Unfortunately, it is House leadership themselves that have forced this outcome.”
On Thursday, Lawler criticized both parties:
Rep. Mike Lawler R-NY hits House GOP leaders for not allowing a vote on compromise health plans – and criticizes Democratic leaders for not supporting bipartisan efforts to extend expiring insurance subsidies pic.twitter.com/JBGLbibUCn
— Jamie Dupree (@jamiedupree) December 16, 2025
The subsidies expire at the end of the year, but the House likely won’t take up the proposal until January.
Even if it passes the House, the Senate probably won’t do anything with the proposal. From Politico:
The bill, however, unlikely to advance in the Senate. While four GOP senators voted to advance a three-year extension alongside Democrats last week, the proposal fell short of the necessary 60 votes to proceed. Senate Majority Leader John Thune was dismissive when asked Monday if he would take up a similar bill if the House sent one over.
“If they just did what they did over here, which is a straight-up three-year extension, then no,” he said. Asked the same question Wednesday, he said, “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”
Even if the Senate does not take up a House-passed extension, it could build pressure on Thune and Johnson to take action on some sort of extension when lawmakers return to Washington next month. Fitzpatrick is hosting some rank-and-file senators who have been exploring a health deal at a Problem Solvers Caucus meeting Wednesday in the Capitol.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson has a plan that doesn’t include the subsidies.
Instead, the plan allows “small businesses to pool health coverage and fund premium reductions for low-income people in the individual health insurance market.”
Again, I have a crazy idea. How about the government get out of the health insurance business?
How about the government just leave us alone!?
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Comments
RINOs, once again looking to spend money WE DO NOT HAVE. Can’t convince your constituents? Then LOSE.
Not sure these four are being classic RINO’s but are merely playing politics because they know there is no chance of this passing before the subsidies expire (which is exactly how Democrats created the system to work).
Are you nuts?! Because their constituents can’t be convinced on this one issue, they should deliberately and consciously hand their seat over to a Democrat, who will support the entire Democrat agenda?! Do you want the Democrats to control Congress?!
Why don’t you make the same demand of Trump, that he stick to pure conservative policies no matter what, and if he can’t convince the public then he should just LOSE and let a Democrat take over?! What’s the difference? Why is it OK for Trump to put realism over principle, but not these congressmen?
I’m all for scrapping the ACA and reducing Fed interference in healthcare.
So the “affordable” part of the Affordable Care Act was just a ruse?
Yes, we already know that. None of that is any of their doing. None of them ever supported 0bamacare, but it’s here now, and if they’re not seen to fight for their constituents they will lose their seats to Democrats. Is that what you want?
Anything to save our seat at the stock insiders table in Congress.
Moderates? Baloney. Spineless weenies.
Are you accusing them of inside trading? On what basis? These are the people who are fighting for you, to keep the Democrats at bay. To do that they have to keep their seats.
Their re-election campaigns won;t be any easier for this — Democrats will still blame them if the vote fails, and won’t thank them if it succeeds.
Republican donors and voters may have the more consequential reaction, and it won’t be in these guys’ favor.
If they’re not seen to fight for their constituents they will LOSE. Families who see their cost of living shoot through the roof won’t blame the Democrats, they’ll blame their Congressman — unless he can credibly say he fought for them and it’s not his fault he lost. Then maybe they’ll consider voting for him anyway. Or maybe they’ll still blame him because the Republicans did it and he’s a Republican. But at least there’s a chance. Without doing this there would be none.
OCare destroyed the insurance market. In New Mexico you can only purchase a catastrophic policy if you’re under 30 or if the state deems you eligible based on economic hardship, or homelessness. They determine if you can afford a regular policy. I’ve got a client who just dropped out of the insurance market entirely because he didn’t qualify, according to the state, to purchase a catastrophic policy and they wanted him to take the money he needs to put away for retirement (self employed) and instead send it to insurance companies.
At this point, I don’t know if there is a “fix”. The democrats deliberately destroyed the prior system and it’s not going to magically come back.
The only real fix is to upend the entire health insurance system to eliminate the tax treatment of health insurance costs between those with employer provided and those without employer provided health insurance. Equalize the tax treatment, give everyone the ability to fund an HSA, to include those with Medicare/VA/Tricare/employer plan. Allow true risk to be insured against with catastrophic care polices. Gut Medicaid and Obama Care. Take the funds and provide 85% to fund individual Citizens HSA. Use the remaining 15% to fund high risk pools for those Citizens with super expensive conditions. Require national market (across State lines) and transparent, static pricing (one price for all consumers for every product, service from aspirin to appendectomy regardless of how/who pays for care) allowing consumers to shop for best price.
The public employee unions will raise Cain as will those with high quality employer provided health insurance. IMO, until we get some willingness for shared sacrifice the health insurance ‘market’ will remain broken and overpriced.
Repubs can’t beat Santa Claus
A vote is fine, Just vote no.
failed to work together to advance any bipartisan compromise
Because compromise is not a virtue when the negotiation is over lopping off one arm or both.
It’s not a virtue, but sometimes it’s a necessity.
“Families in NEPA cannot afford to have the rug pulled out from under them.”
Whereas it was perfectly OK to body-slam those of us who had perfectly affordable medical plans we liked before Obamacare outlawed them.
Lawler was also a leader of the SALT caucus to (successfully) get repeal of the $10K cap on State/local tax deduction. I am beyond unsympathetic to the State and Local tax bills of folks who choose to reside in States and localities with humongous tax bills fueled by insane levels of gov’t spending.
So am I, even though I live in such a state. But you can’t blame Republican congressmen from those states for fighting for their constituents’ interests, even if they’re against the interests of the rest of the country.
You don’t count. You didn’t vote for Obama or his partners in crime. Screw you.
Huh? He did not support 0bamacare. He wasn’t even in Congress when it passed, but considering that not a single Republican voted for it, it’s almost certain that he would not have voted for it either. So you can’t blame him for what it did.
I had a family plan with a $5k deductible before the ACA – now deductible is $20k and policy is nearly 2x – where is the AFFORDABLE part???
It was never intended to be “affordable.” It was intended to collapse the health insurance system so they got force everyone onto single-payer.
like the wnba
its so successful
it has to be supported by others money
john mccain made sure obammercare stayed as the law
the gop is afraid to support capitalism as the msm has controlled the narrative on how capitalism is evil
the gop loses anyways and they wont even make a bold stand against slavery
“Again, I have a crazy idea. How about the government get out of the health insurance business?”
Instead of making unserious statements like this, you might consider reporting on this:
Dr. Rand Paul Introduces Bill to Expand Health Care Freedom for the Self-Employed and Small Businesses
https://www.paul.senate.gov/265528-2/
What I’d like to see is:
Congress passes a bill to remove government intervention into healthcare, and leave it to the doctor and the patient to make those decisions.
I don’t know what you mean. Intervention between doctor and patient is due to many entities, government being only one of them. Private health insurance intervenes as much as government health insurance, and much of government health insurance is implemented via private companies. Pharmaceutical companies push their products to doctors, and discourage doctors from using alternatives.
So I really don’t know what you mean.