The following is a lightly edited transcript of the December 18 episode of the Daily Blast podcast. Listen to it here.

Greg Sargent: This is The Daily Blast from The New Republic, produced and presented by the DSR Network. I’m your host, Greg Sargent.

In a big blow to House Speaker Mike Johnson, four House Republicans just joined with Democrats to force a vote next year on an extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies. Those Republicans, who are vulnerable in the midterms, are hoping this helps save their seats next year. But will it? The problem for Republicans is that what’s happening now is almost certain not to save the subsidies, which will leave them on the wrong side of the health care issue when they can least afford it. New polls today underscore the depth of the party’s hole on healthcare and the economy. And Mike Johnson’s reaction to all this was unintentionally revealing as well. We’re talking about all of it with Grace Segers, who writes really well about Congress and policy as a staff writer for The New Republic. Grace, good to have you on.

Grace Segers: Thanks so much for having me.

Sargent: So let’s start here. Four Republicans just joined this discharge petition to force a vote in 2026 on a three-year extension of the Affordable Care Act subsidies that were expanded under Joe Biden and are expiring. Grace, this expiration is going to hit millions of people, and yet it’s highly likely that even if this House bill passes, it won’t get into law. Can you explain all this?

Segers: So today we saw four House Republicans sign onto a discharge petition, which is basically a way for them to get around the House process and force a vote on legislation that would allow the extension of these subsidies. Like you said, this is a really big deal for millions of Americans who rely on the Affordable Care Act marketplace to enroll in health care.

But the issue here is that even if and when it does pass in the House next year, first of all, the subsidies will have already expired. So that means that millions of people are going to be affected. And then second of all, Republicans still control the Senate and there’s still the filibuster in place. So it probably wouldn’t pass in the Senate either.

So in a sense, this is more of a way for those House Republicans to make it look as if they are doing something on the issue. But it’s hard to see whether this would have an actual policy impact.

Sargent: Well, so let’s talk about these four Republicans. They’re Brian Fitzpatrick, Rob Bresnahan Jr., Ryan Mackenzie—those three are from Pennsylvania. And then there’s Mike Lawler of New York. They’re vulnerable in 2026. They’ve been trying to get the House to vote on an extension of the subsidies because, as you say, they really need to be on the right side of this issue. Mike Johnson’s been refusing. Now listen to how Mike Lawler reacted to this.

Mike Lawler (voiceover): I am pissed for the American people. This is absolute bullshit. And it’s absurd that we are in a body with 435 members. Everybody has a responsibility to serve their district, to serve their constituents.

Sargent: And listen to this from Representative Kevin Kiley, also a Republican, who’s speaking here about Johnson’s refusal to allow that vote.

Kevin Kiley (voiceover): That’s a failure of leadership. I mean, we have, you know, members on both sides who believe this is an urgent issue, and it is for all of our members in terms of what their constituents are going to have to........

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