House Republicans from swing districts appear ready to back Speaker Mike Johnson's health care bill this week, even though it does nothing to stop enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies from expiring on Jan. 1. Johnson is pushing a GOP alternative focused on other health policy changes, while refusing to schedule a vote to extend the expiring tax credits that help about 20 million people afford coverage. Moderates who'd warned for months about the political fallout now say they're unlikely to oppose the bill over that omission, per Politico. "I haven't seen anything objectionable yet," said Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, adding he wouldn't vote against it "in protest," even as he called it a "huge mistake" not to renew the subsidies.
That stance underscores how closely the centrists have aligned with Johnson in 2025, generally backing the party's broader domestic agenda and staying off discharge petitions that would weaken leadership's grip on the floor. On health care, some mounted a late push for either a stand-alone vote or an amendment that would extend the subsidies, but leadership argued there weren't enough votes, or time, to pass such a measure, especially amid internal GOP splits over abortion coverage. By the time Fitzpatrick and Virginia Rep. Jen Kiggans filed separate discharge petitions, the House calendar made it virtually impossible to act before the credits lapse.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries notes he's "actively reviewing" both petitions, per the Hill, which notes that such bills would require significant Democrats behind them. The Senate's failure last week to move a Democratic three-year extension all but guaranteed the subsidies would end on Jan. 1. Still, a House vote on Johnson's bill could add pressure on leaders to revisit the issue next month. Fitzpatrick plans to offer an amendment in the Rules Committee mirroring his bipartisan proposal for a two-year, more targeted extension, though Majority Leader Steve Scalise said no decision has been made on allowing a vote.
Vulnerable Republicans, many of whom represent districts that flipped in past battles over ObamaCare, are now trying to balance their public calls to maintain the aid with a leadership that remains skeptical, as well as a base still hostile to the law itself. "We are in charge," says retiring GOP Rep. Don Bacon, a Nebraska centrist, per CNN. "When you're in charge, you got to deal with it." A two-week recess starts on Monday.
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