A group of Republicans in swing districts plan to challenge both House Speaker Mike Johnson and the Senate and try to force a vote on an extension of the Affordable Care Act’s improved health care subsidies that expire at the end of the month.
This is as Johnson largely opposed a single vote on the ACA subsidies, or Obamacare. The Senate also voted down legislation against Republican Sens. Bill Cassidy and Mike Crapo that would transfer money to health savings accounts.
The Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) has filed a discharge petition for his legislation that would extend the enhanced tax credits through 2027 and include some minor changes to eligibility. A handful of Republicans and Democrats in swing districts, facing tough re-election prospects, signed the petition.
“We want to pass the legislation, and we want the Senate to take it up,” Fitzpatrick said The Independent. “But, what you’re seeing here is rank and file members of the House 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 buying insurance on the Affordable Care Act marketplace. In 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act signed by Joe Biden extended the subsidies until the end of 2025.
Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) (Right) is joining a handful of Republicans trying to extend enhanced tax credits for the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance marketplaces, which expire at the end of the year. (Getty Images)
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 — Representatives Mike Lawler of New York and Don Bacon of Nebraska — signed his petition.
Bacon is retiring at the end of next year and said that despite his opposition to the Affordable Care Act, Republicans need to avoid a crisis of rising premiums 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 have to get 60 votes,” said Bacon. The Independent. “At some point, they’re going to realize that everybody’s premium is going up, and they’re going to 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 market during the last open enrollment period. Bacon pointed out how his fellow Republicans often say they didn’t 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 are going to be paying a lot more for premiums,” Bacon said. Many customers in the market risk seeing their premiums double or even triple.
Any individual member can file a discharge petition to force the legislation onto the floor. But before then, a member must obtain 218 signatures, then the petition must sit on the calendar for seven legislative days before the speaker must call the time and place for voting within two legislative days.
Most recently, Representatives Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) obtained enough signatures to successfully force a near-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.
Representative Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Penn.) is leading an effort to force a vote to extend enhanced tax credits for two years. (Getty Images)
There is another discharge petition on health care led by Rep. Josh Gottheimer (DN.J.). Fitzpatrick also signed this. Discharge petitions also serve as a means for rank-and-file Republicans dissatisfied with the way Johnson led the House to register their frustration.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who criticized the fact that Republicans had not come up with a plan to stop the rising premiums, signed the Fitzpatrick petition. In addition, Rep. Kevin Kiley, who criticized the fact that Johnson closed the House during the government shutdown signed the petition.
“I actually proposed to him yesterday, why don’t you put the bills on the floor,” Kiley said The Independent. Since Donald Trump’s return to the White House, the House has largely taken a backseat to lawmaking compared to the president’s whims.
“I don’t really know what their plans are, but at the end of the day, this is a matter for Congress to take the lead,” Kiley said. “We really need legislation, and I think this is a great opportunity for the House to own back in the driver’s seat when this house has been absent in many ways in recent months.”
But Fitzpatrick also said he understood the impossible position Johnson faced.
“You’ve got to let him answer that. I mean, he was saying he’s representing the will of the conference,” said Fitzpatrick. “We are representing our constituents. So we all have a job to do.”