A group of Republican House members delivered a sharp rebuke of House Speaker Mike Johnson by signing onto a Democratic effort to force a healthcare vote.
The move came as Johnson has refused to bring a bill to the floor for a vote to extend the enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies, which are set to expire at the end of the year.
It’s the latest Republican rebellion against Johnson, whose leadership has come under fire from some of his own caucus members.
The GOP lawmakers who bucked party leadership include Reps. Mike Lawler, Brian Fitzpatrick, Ryan Mackenzie and Rob Bresnahan, who all represent swing districts and are facing tough re-election campaigns next year.
They signed onto a discharge petition to force a vote on the clean, three-year extension of ACA subsidies.
Their signatures bring the total number of lawmakers who have signed onto the petition to 218, which is a threshold to force the vote.
It sets up the House to hold a vote on the bill in January despite Johnson’s fierce opposition to extending the subsidies.
The Republicans who broke ranks blasted Johnson for refusing to hold a vote.
“I am p—ed for the American people. This is absolute bulls–t,” Lawler told reporters. “Everybody has a responsibility to serve their district, to serve their constituents.”
Fitzpatrick issued a statement after signing the petition, noting his effort to put forward a bipartisan solution, only to have it rejected.
“As I’ve stated many times before, the only policy that is worse than a clean three-year extension without any reforms, is a policy of complete expiration without any bridge,” Fitzpatrick said. “Unfortunately, it is House leadership themselves that have forced this outcome.”
Bresnahan wrote that after the effort to reach a bipartisan deal failed, signing onto the petition to force a vote to extend credits was the “only way to protect the 28,000 people in my district from higher costs.”
Despite our months-long call for action, leadership on both sides of the aisle failed to work together to advance any bipartisan compromise, leaving this as the only way to protect the 28,000 people in my district from higher costs.
Families in NEPA cannot afford to have the…— Congressman Rob Bresnahan Jr. (@RepBresnahan) December 17, 2025
House Republicans introduced their own healthcare bill this week, but it does not extend subsidies.
If Congress does not act, premiums are set to skyrocket at the end of the year for some 20 million Americans.
The refusal to hold a vote on the enhanced tax credits for months led to a showdown over spending and the longest government shutdown in U.S. history in October.
Even if the bill put forward by Democrats does pass in the House, as appears likely with the forced vote, it still has to make its way through the Senate.
It’s not clear what the GOP majority in the Senate will do. Majority Leader John Thune said the Senate will cross that bridge when it gets to it when asked about the discharge petition.
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