Speaker Quashes Moderates' Hopes for Obamacare Subsidies Vote

House Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith (R-MO0 said the Democrats' plan to extend Obamacare premium subsidies doesn't address the high cost of health insurance for the vast majority of Americans

Speaker Mike Johnson will block a push by moderate House Republicans for a vote on renewing expiring Obamacare subsidies, quashing a last-ditch effort to head off a spike in insurance premiums for more than 20 million Americans.

The Republican speaker’s decision guarantees enhanced Affordable Care Act premium credits expire at the end of the year. Democrats have made clear the congressional Republicans’ refusal to extend the subsidies will figure prominently in a midterm congressional campaign focusing on the high cost of living. A band of swing-district moderates had pushed for a vote this week on adding an extension of the expiring subsidies to Republican health care legislation that the House plans to vote on Wednesday.

Moderate House lawmakers will not get to vote on extending Obamacare premium subsidies before the end of the year, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Tuesday.

The enhanced Affordable Care Act premium tax credits are set to expire in 15 days, which will send payments soaring. House Republican moderates were hoping to vote on an amendment to add an extension to a separate GOP health policy bill this week.

The announcement makes certain that Covid-era enhanced credits will end after Dec. 31. Senators want negotiations to continue into the new year, but they’ll face even more barriers to an agreement after the subsidies lapse.

Johnson said an agreement didn’t emerge during talks over the weekend. “Many of them did want a vote on this Obamacare, Covid-era subsidy the Democrats created,” he said. “We looked for a way to try to allow for that pressure release valve, and it was just not to be.”

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) said there was a lot of back and forth on the issue. “Ultimately, the decision was made not to go forward in Rules Committee, but there was a lot of discussion about that,” he said.

Republican Backlash

Swing-district Republicans laid into their own leaders for the decision after a party meeting Tuesday morning, with high-profile moderate Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) calling it “idiotic.”

“You have two leaders that are not serious about solving this,” said Lawler. He also criticized Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.) for insisting on a three-year clean extension instead of supporting one of the narrower bipartisan approaches. “I am pissed for the American people.”

Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) and Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) earlier filed discharge petitions to force votes on shorter-term extensions when they secure 218 member signatures. Democratic leaders do not supported either effort.

“We have a unified Democratic position,” Jeffries said Monday night. “All 214 House Democrats have made clear the best path forward is a straightforward extension of the Affordable Care Act tax credits, and the Republicans on the other side now are crashing and burning.” Neither Lawler nor Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.) ruled out signing onto the Democrats’ discharge petition, though Republicans have so far resisted joining the effort.

Kiley, who’s at risk of losing his seat due to mid-decade redistricting in California, called the situation “a failure of leadership on both sides.”

“This is why people are so frustrated with Congress,” Kiley said Tuesday. “And why Congress has — what, a 15% approval rating? I thi

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