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.
“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:
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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