The US House of Representatives passed a bill Thursday extending Obamacare subsidies for three years, upping the pressure on Senate Republicans to reconsider the legislation just months after Democrats forced a government shutdown over the issue.
The House voted 230-196 to approve tens of billions of dollars in Affordable Care Act tax credits, with more than a dozen Republicans crossing party lines to join every Democrat.
The credits expired on Dec. 31, 2025, after having been previously enhanced through legislation passed under former President Joe Biden and a Democratic-controlled Congress during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Roughly 22 million Americans are expected to have higher health care premiums this year as a result.
At least nine House Republicans had crossed party lines to advance the bill Wednesday — and at least 17 GOP lawmakers voted for its final passage.
But the House measure is unlikely to be considered in the Senate, though a bipartisan group of lawmakers have been debating a deal on an alternative bill that would extend the Obamacare credits for just two years — with some other cost-reducing provisions.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) got the necessary 218 signatures for a discharge petition to force a vote in the lower chamber on the bill that passed on a bipartisan basis Thursday.
On Monday, Jeffries told reporters the bill would “prevent tens of millions of Americans from experiencing dramatically-increased premiums, co-pays and deductibles this month, increases that in some cases could result in everyday Americans paying $1,000 or $2,000 more per month.”
Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY) told The Post Thursday that, without the extension, his constituents have to fork over around 8% of their income to pay premiums.
“This is a huge victory for the American people,” Suozzi said, while noting that there are other compromise bills being floated by working groups of Democrats and Republicans, including in the House Problem Solvers Caucus that he co-chairs.
“My signature on the discharge for this bill, and my affirmative vote today, is not an endorsement of a clean 3-year extension, rather a commitment to a bipartisan solution,” Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) said. --->READ MORE HERE
The bill would extend expired Obamacare subsidies for three years
The House of Representatives passed a bill to revive and extend COVID-19 pandemic-era enhanced Obamacare subsidies in a major victory for Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y.
Seventeen House Republicans broke ranks with GOP leaders to support the legislation after Democrats were successful in forcing a vote via a mechanism called a privileged resolution. The bill passed 230-196.
A discharge petition is a mechanism for getting legislation considered on the House floor even if the majority's leadership is opposed to it, provided the petition gets a majority of House lawmakers' signatures.
Jeffries filed a discharge petition late last year, which was then signed by four House Republicans — helping it clinch the critical majority threshold.
Five more House Republicans joined Democrats in a vote Wednesday evening to advance the legislation for final consideration Thursday.
The 17 Republicans who voted for the legislation were Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa.; Mike Lawler, R-N.Y.; Rob Bresnahan, R-Pa.; Ryan Mackenzie, R-Pa.; Mike Carey, R-Ohio; Monica De La Cruz, R-Texas; Andrew Garbarino, R-N.Y.; Jeff Hurd, R-Colo.; Dave Joyce, R-Ohio; Tom Kean Jr., R-N.J., Nick LaLota, R-N.Y., Max Miller, R-Ohio; Zach Nunn, R-Iowa; Maria Salazar, R-Fla.; Dave Valadao, R-Calif.; Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis.; and Rob Wittman, R-Va.
It underscores the perilously slim margins Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is governing with.
House Republicans hold just a two-vote majority with full attendance on both sides, numbers that could easily shift when lawmakers are absent for personal or health reasons.
As Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., put to reporters on Wednesday morning, "We are one flu season away from losing the majority."
The successful vote on Thursday is a blow for Johnson, who argued for weeks that the majority of House Republicans were opposed to extending the COVID-19 pandemic-era tax subsidies. --->READ MORE HERE
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