Two bipartisan groups of House lawmakers launched last-minute bids Wednesday to force votes on extending the enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies set to expire at the end of the year.
The efforts, both using a legislative tool known as a discharge petition, face long-shot odds: At least 218 members of the House would first have to agree to consider the bills, including most House Democrats. If either succeeded in the House, it would need to get at least 13 Republican votes in the Senate — if all of the chamber’s Democrats supported it.
But the attempts may present the best chance remaining for lawmakers to push through an extension for the enhanced ACA tax credits that expire at the end of the year, increasing health insurance costs for most of the 24 million Americans who get coverage from the Obamacare marketplace.
Most Republicans oppose extending the credits, which were put in place by Democrats during the covid-19 pandemic. The GOP argues that the subsidies are outdated, push up the price of health care and are vulnerable to fraud. Democrats have argued that the credits are key to keeping health care affordable for people on the ACA marketplace, and they insisted on an extension through the recent government shutdown. The party is pushing legislation to extend the credits for three years without other changes, but that effort is expected to fail in a Senate vote Thursday.
One plan proposed Wednesday by Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pennsylvania) would extend the tax credits for two years, add new income caps and implement minimum monthly premiums for marketplace plans eligible for the tax credits.
Another petition, from Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-New Jersey), would advance a plan by him and Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-Virginia) that has the support of at least 38 lawmakers in both parties, which would also extend the credits for two years with changes.
House Republican leaders are not interested in advancing the measures, but discharge petitions bypass the traditional lawmaking process and allow legislation to be considered on the floor without the speaker’s approval, if backed by a majority of the House.
“It’s a time-sensitive matter, and it’s an existential matter for people back home that we care about, where this is a very real problem,” Fitzpatrick told reporters after introducing the petition, adding that the group tried to push the bill through traditional avenues. “All those remedies are exhausted, then you got to go this route, unfortunately.”
Gottheimer said he hoped his maneuver would succeed.
“It’s a commonsense proposal that will keep costs down and prevent families’ premiums from skyrocketing,” Gottheimer said. “We must get this done now. We must find common ground. Time is running out.”
Republicans in both chambers have been working to come up with a counterproposal to the Democrats’ effort to extend the enhanced ACA subsidies. In the Senate, they will consider a GOP bill Thursday that would allow the premium ACA subsidies to expire and replace them with a two-year program funding health savings accounts paired with certain plans on the ACA marketplace. That proposal lacks Democratic support and is expected to fail because of the Senate filibuster.
House Republicans met Wednesday to discuss possible options and emerged with a laundry list of ideas — which did not include an extension of the premium ACA tax credits, infuriating moderates who have made the demand of leadership.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) said he hopes to propose a GOP plan by the end of the week that could be voted on next week, but it remained unclear to lawmakers whether the divided factions could agree on compromise legislation. There also may not be time to finish passing an extension before subsidies expire at the end of the year, regardless, as lawmakers are set to head home for a holiday break at the end of next week.
“We have some low-hanging fruit, we have some things that every Republican agrees to,” Johnson said Wednesday. “You’re going to see a package come together that will be on the floor next week that will actually reduce premiums for 100 percent of Americans who are on health insurance, not just the 7 percent,” referencing the share of Americans who receive the enhanced premium tax credits.
There are enough Republicans who have signed on to Fitzpatrick’s petition for it to pass if all Democrats joined with them.
But House Democratic leaders are unlikely to push their caucus to join the petition. Leaders are concerned that some of the provisions in the bill couldn’t be implemented in time and that one — the minimum monthly premium — could push about a million people off insurance, according to a senior Democratic leadership aide who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private talks.
Democratic leaders prefer the plan from Gottheimer and Kiggans — though it is unclear whether either can get enough signatures to force a vote.
Marianna Sotomayor contributed to this report.
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