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.
Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) could be heard yelling outside the room where the centrist Republican Governance Group was meeting with Johnson in attendance, sounding off about GOP leaders’ opposition to a vote this week and mocking the assurance from some that Republicans could work on a party-line health care bill next year.
Lawler — who earlier in the day publicly accused GOP leaders of “political malpractice” — shot back that Republicans would “never” get a second reconciliation bill passed, despite the wishful thinking.
A stern Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-Va.) also pressed Johnson, according to three people in the room granted anonymity to describe the private meeting, asking why he and other leaders didn’t act sooner on the expiring subsides and health care generally.
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.
The moderates are nonetheless making some last-minute moves to try to force the issue.
Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) submitted an amendment Tuesday to a narrow GOP health package set to hit the House floor this week that would extend the expiring tax credits for two years with anti-fraud and income eligibility restrictions. Kiggans is also expected to file an amendment that would extend the subsidies while cracking down on fraud, and there are efforts to craft a third amendment that Johnson told reporters might be amendable to a wider group of Republicans.
As Johnson left the meeting with the moderates, he brushed off the intraparty barbs, saying they were “trying to solve the equation” for everyone and the group had some ideas worth considering.
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.
The GOP moderates have previously rejected the Democrats’ proposal, arguing the subsidies need new guardrails. But Lawler said Tuesday morning, “All options are on the table,” while Fitzpatrick said after the Tuesday meeting, “Ask me after today.”
Vulnerable Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick told Speaker Mike Johnson on the House floor Tuesday he would not withdraw his discharge petition that would force a floor vote on extending expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies — amid Johnson’s attempt to find a potential agreement to allow a vote on an amendment instead that would be similar in substance.
The standoff, described by three people granted anonymity to divulge private conversations, shows the pressure GOP leadership is under to defuse a politically challenging dynamic around the future of the enhanced Obamacare subsidies that have divided Johnson’s conference.
At the same time, the speaker’s allies argue it shows that the GOP moderates themselves are still refusing to reach a deal ahead of a Wednesday vote on a health care bill Republicans want to pass to show they are serious about preventing a looming spike in insurance premiums.
Fitzpatrick and Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-Va.), in private conversations with Johnson and other Republicans, have both so far declined to turn off their respective discharge petitions in the absence of an agreement they can vote on this week alongside the GOP health care bill.
Johnson in recent days told GOP moderates who want a vote on an ACA subsidies extension he would agree to such a vote if they in turn agreed to turn off their various discharge petitions and make sure the amendment was paid for with a satisfactory offset. Johnson also wanted to use Fitzpatrick’s two-year ACA extension bill as the base for a compromise amendment, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter. But those talks never produced a deal.
The speaker told reporters after talking to Fitzpatrick Tuesday afternoon that they’re still “working” on various ACA amendment options. But, he said, “I thought there was an agreement on the Fitzpatrick amendment and then they made different decisions.”
The speaker added later he thought “there’s a real possibility they get a vote on it” and noted he “certainly tried my best to provide for that.”
Fitzpatrick and Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) huddled with Johnson on the floor Tuesday evening, along with Kiggans and a larger group of moderates and Johnson’s top floor and policy staff, but the group still disbanded without an agreement, according to two people involved in the conversation.
The House Rules Committee, meanwhile, is meeting to pave the way for floor consideration of the narrow health package endorsed by House Republican........