The US House of Representatives is expected a vote on the bill on Thursday to extend increased Obamacare subsidies that expired at the end of 2025, causing premiums under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to skyrocket.
The vote comes after nine Republicans in the House of Representatives, including Brian Fitzpatrick reps (PA-01), Ryan Mackenzie (PA-07) i Rob Bresnahan (PA-08), I voted in support supporting a Democratic bill that would restore the subsidies for three years.
The vote, scheduled for this afternoon, will list members of both parties for or against increased tax breaks.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) refused to comply with the demands and introduced a bill to prevent the loans from expiring, which has now occurred. Three Pennsylvania congressmen, who all face stern challenges to their seats in November, feared the political ramifications of an election-year subsidy expiration.
Even if the bill passes the House, it has no chance of getting through the U.S. Senate because it doesn’t have 60 votes to overcome a filibuster.
This will still be a victory for Democrats in the House, as putting Republicans on the record for voting on grants could prove beneficial in the midterms as Democrats look to regain control of the chamber. It would also raise hope among centrist Republicans that a bipartisan compromise could be reached to revive them.
The battle over increased ACA subsidies has been raging on Capitol Hill for months, reigniting venerable arguments over the government’s role in the nation’s health care system and leading directly to a record 43-day government shutdown last fall. In the absence of a deal, health care costs for around 22 million people on subsidies will see their health care costs rise sharply in the first months of this year.
“We have been working for months to develop a bipartisan solution to the problem of expiring health care funding,” Fitzpatrick said in a December statement. “We have been working for months with both parties, in both chambers and with the White House, all in good faith, to balance all actions and offer a responsible bridge that successfully moved the needle.
“Our only request was for a vote on this compromise so that the voice of the American people could be heard on this matter. This request was denied. Then, at the request of House leadership, my colleagues and I tabled multiple amendments and testified extensively on them. House leadership then chose to reject each of these amendments. As I have said many times, the only policy that is worse than a clean three-year extension with no reforms is a policy of a complete sunset with no bridge. Unfortunately, it was House leadership themselves who forced such result”.
“My position has been clear throughout this process – we need both short-term help to lower prices and long-term reforms to make health care in America more affordable for all,” Mackenzie said last month. “To achieve these goals, I have decided on the only remaining option in the House – a three-year extension of enhanced credits, because it will keep the conversation alive.”
“Despite our months-long call to action, leaders on both sides of the aisle have failed to work together to reach any bipartisan compromise, leaving this as the only way to protect the 28,000 residents of my district from higher costs,” Bresnahan said. “Families in NEPA cannot afford to have the rug pulled out from under them. Doing nothing was not an option, and while I never intended to support this bill, it is the only option left. I urge my colleagues to put politics aside, put people first and unite behind a bipartisan agreement.”
This is a developing story and will be updated.
