A group of House Republicans moved to force a vote on extending Obamacare health insurance subsidies that will expire in just three weeks, directly challenging party leaders who appear determined to let them lapse.
At least six Republicans signed a discharge petition filed Wednesday on a bill authored by Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) and Jared Golden (D-Maine) that would extend the expiring tax credits for two years while imposing new eligibility requirements. The subsidies are currently used by more than 20 million Americans.
“It’s a time-sensitive matter, and it’s an existential matter,” Fitzpatrick told reporters after filing the petition. “You try to do things through the normal course. You try to do things through regular order. You know, [when] all those remedies are exhausted, then you’ve got to go this route, unfortunately.”
The move to sidestep Speaker Mike Johnson came as a growing number of mainstream House Republicans publicly warned that their leaders’ apparent plan to allow the tax credits to expire without a replacement in place will cost them their majority in next year’s midterm elections.
“If we fumble this health care ball, nothing else is going to matter,” Rep. John Rutherford of Florida said. “If we don’t win the majority in the midterms, then none of this matters. We can’t do anything good then. I think everybody understands that.”
Johnson did not include a subsidy extension in a menu of options he presented to members in a closed-door meeting Wednesday morning, and some conservative hard-liners who attended spoke against the idea.
But many members in the meeting spoke up to call for an extension, to the point that Republicans leaving the room thought that they had in fact decided to forge ahead with an extension.
Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-N.J.) said it would be a “bad move” for Republicans to allow the tax credits to lapse, adding that he was “worried about my colleagues.”
“There’s a lot of good people who won by one, two, three or four votes,” he said. “Do I think this issue is worth a couple points in an election? Yeah, I do.”
The Republicans joining Fitzpatrick in signing the discharge petition include Reps. Don Bacon of Nebraska, Rob Bresnahan of Pennsylvania, Kevin Kiley of California, Mike Lawler of New York and Ryan Mackenzie of Pennsylvania, with New York Rep. Nick LaLota also indicating he planned to sign.
That would be enough to force a vote eventually if all House Democrats sign on to the proposal, but that is by no means assured. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Monday he is pushing a separate discharge effort on a three-year subsidy extension that does not include new eligibility requirements.
Golden, a centrist Democrat who is retiring after his term ends, said leaders of both parties should pay heed to this discharge petition and others that have succeeded this Congress.
“Leadership, no matter who they are, in both parties, House and Senate, should pay attention to what’s going on with discharge petitions,” he said.
President Donald Trump has so far not weighed in publicly on the extension of the subsidies, saying only that he “wants to give money to the people,” not to insurance companies. Various GOP plans have been proposed that would direct money to health savings accounts instead of premium subsidies that go directly to insurers.
Senate Republicans are expected to support one such proposal in a Thursday vote, but it’s not clear it can get more support than the three-year clean extension favored by Democrats.
None of the alternative proposals has reached critical mass inside the House GOP, and without an extension, premiums for some enrollees on Affordable Care Act marketplaces will soar by hundreds of dollars within a matter of weeks, fueling the panic in the Republican ranks.
While more GOP lawmakers are speaking out about the subsidy cliff, it’s not clear how many more will be willing to sign a discharge petition — which is typically considered a major breach of party loyalty and an option of last resort.
For instance, Rep. Monica De La Cruz (R-Texas) said in an interview she wants to lower health care costs and noted she’s signed onto a plan including a two-year subsidy extension.
But she said she would have to think about whether she would sign onto a discharge petition.
GOP leaders have argued, including at Wednesday morning’s conference meeting, that the subsidies are wasteful and that there is not enough internal support to extend them. But others in the party ranks have their doubts.
“I call bullshit on that,” said one conservative House Republican in a deep-red seat who was granted anonymity to speak frankly. “Most people here know we need a bridge.”
Benjamin Guggenheim contributed to this report.
