House Speaker Mike Johnson faced criticism from both sides of the aisle after announcing that the House will not vote on extending ACA subsidies.
Along with House Democrats, around a dozen moderate Republican lawmakers supported extending the subsidies. Johnson praised the lawmakers for “fighting hard to make sure they reduce costs for all of their constituents,” even as he nixed the vote.
“Many of them did want to vote on this Obamacare, COVID-era subsidy the Democrats created,” Johnson said at a press conference on Tuesday. “We looked for a way to try to allow for that pressure release valve, and it just was not to be.”
Previous attempts to reach an agreement in the Senate have failed, and Congress remains deadlocked on the issue with time running out. Prior to Johnson’s announcement, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., said that not holding a vote on the extensions would “a huge mistake.”
“We can agree that the current construct is flawed,” Fitzpatrick said of his party’s leadership, “but that letting them expire is not acceptable.”
Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., accused Johnson of “political malpractice.”
“I think it’s idiotic not to have an up-or-down vote on this issue,” Lawler told reporters after a closed-door meeting with Republican legislators. “This is absolute bulls**t.”
Lawler took his scathing rebuke to the House floor, again calling it “idiotic.”
“The challenge I have every one of my colleagues is put the party crap aside and sign the damn discharge today,” Lawler said.
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House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., echoed Lawler’s sentiment, warning that if subsidies expire, “tens of millions of Americans could lose their health insurance.”
“House Republicans have created this healthcare crisis because they don’t give a damn about you,” Jeffries wrote on X.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., criticized Republican leadership for checking out ahead of the holidays.
“They are actively choosing to go into the holiday break, knowing health care premiums are doubling & tripling for millions of Americans in 2026, and doing nothing about it,” Jayapal wrote on X.
When the subsidies expire at the end of the year, the median cost of ACA plans are projected to rise by 18% nationwide.
