A group of Republicans in swing districts plan to defy both House Speaker Mike Johnson and the Senate and try to force a vote on an extension of enhanced Affordable Care Act health-care subsidies that expire at the end of the month.
This comes as Johnson has largely opposed holding a standalone vote on the ACA, or Obamacare, subsidies. The Senate also voted down legislation from Republican Sens. Bill Cassidy and Mike Crapo that would transfer the money to health savings accounts.
Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) filed a discharge petition for his legislation that would extend the enhanced tax credits until 2027 and includes some small changes for eligibility. A handful of Republicans and Democrats in swing districts, who face tough re-election prospects, have signed on to the petition.
“We want to get the legislation passed, and we want the Senate to take it up,” Fitzpatrick told The Independent. “But, what you're seeing here is rank and file members of the House kind of leading the charge on this.”
The 2021 American Rescue Plan Act legislation that provided relief during the Covid-19 pandemic expanded tax credits for people who buy insurance on Affordable Care Act’s marketplace. In 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act signed by Joe Biden extended the subsidies until the end of 2025.
Fitzpatrick’s district is one of only three districts that elected a Republican and voted for Kamala Harris in 2024. The other two Republicans from those districts — Reps. Mike Lawler from New York and Don Bacon from Nebraska — signed on to his petition.
Bacon is retiring at the end of next year and has said that despite his opposition to the Affordable Care Act, Republicans need to avoid a crisis of the premiums spiking at the end of the year.
“It feels more realistic that our push will inspire the Senate to come up with some kind of compromise, because we gotta get 60 votes,” Bacon told The Independent. “At some point, they're gonna realize everybody's premium is going up, and they're gonna say, we've done nothing, and that's not a good answer.”
According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, 21.4 million people enrolled in the health insurance marketplace during the last open enrollment period. Bacon pointed out how his fellow Republicans often say that they did not vote for the Affordable Care Act 15 years ago or the enhanced credits.
“There is some truth to that, but the ACA is imploding, but we're in charge, and our constituents will be paying a lot more for premiums,” Bacon said. Many customers on the marketplace risk seeing their premiums double or even triple.
Any individual member can file a discharge petition to force legislation on the floor. But before then, a member has to get 218 signatures, then the petition must sit on the calendar for seven legislative days before speaker must call the time and place for a vote within two legislative days.
Most recently, Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) earned enough signatures to successfully force an almost unanimous vote to release files related to Jeffrey Epstein. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) is gathering signatures to gain enough support to force a vote to ban individual members from trading stocks.
There is another discharge petition on health care led by Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.). Fitzpatrick also signed onto that. The discharge petitions also serve as a a way for rank-and-file Republicans dissatisfied with the way Johnson has run the House to register their frustration.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who criticized the fact Republicans had not come up with a plan to stave off the rising premiums, signed the Fitzpatrick petition. In addition, Rep. Kevin Kiley, who criticized the fact Johnson closed the House during the government shutdown signed the petition.
“I actually proposed to him yesterday, why don't you just put the bills on the floor,” Kiley told The Independent. Since Donald Trump’s return to the White House, the House has largely taken a backseat to lawmaking compared to the whims of the president.
“I don't really know what what their plans are, but ultimately, this is an issue for Congress to take the lead up,” Kiley said. “Like we need legislation, and I think this is a great opportunity for the House to sort of put itself back in the driver's seat when this chamber has been absent in a lot of ways in recent months.”
But Fitzpatrick also said he understood the impossible position that Johnson faces.
“You got to let him answer that. I mean, he would say he's representing the will the conference,” Fitzpatrick said. “We're representing our constituents. So we all have jobs to do.”
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