Republican splinter group helps force House vote on health subsidies

WASHINGTON (CN) — Cracks deepened in the House Republican conference on Wednesday, as a group of centrist GOP lawmakers bucked their party and signed onto a Democrat-led petition forcing a vote on expiring health care subsidies.

It’s a major revolt from four House Republicans, whose support pushed the petition across the finish line and teed up a floor vote on legislation House Speaker Mike Johnson said just hours ago that he would not entertain.

Democrats for months have urged the GOP majority in Congress to take up legislation to extend health care tax credits under the Affordable Care Act, which are set to expire at the end of the year. The issue was central to Democratic demands during the government shutdown — and lawmakers ultimately reached a deal to reopen the government after Senate Republicans agreed to vote on such an extension.

But, speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Johnson said that the House would not take up a bill to extend the ACA subsidies, but would instead vote on a Republican measure he says will reform the U.S. health care system.

“Democrats do not want a solution,” Johnson said. “They want an issue in the upcoming election, and they think that the media will go along with this and people will buy their heroic effort to extend this Covid-era subsidy that they themselves created.”

But Johnson’s refusal to vote on an extension to the expiring ACA subsidies has riled some within his own party. New York Representative Mike Lawler told reporters Tuesday that the move was “bullshit” and that it would be “idiotic” for Congress not to hold an up-or-down vote on the issue.

Lawler was one of the four moderate Republicans who signed House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ discharge petition forcing a vote on the proposed health care extension. He was joined by Pennsylvania Representatives Brian Fitzpatrick, Robert Bresnahan and Ryan Mackenzie.

Johnson, who was spotted on the House floor Tuesday and Wednesday huddling with moderates, told reporters that his colleagues had refused to compromise on an amendment that would unite the Republican conference.

But he was rebuffed on social media by California Representative Kevin Kiley, who wrote in a post on X that the speaker’s comments were “false” and that he had proposed such an amendment but Johnson had claimed it would be ruled out of order.

Now that the discharge petition has achieved the 218 required signatures, the House must take up the underlying legislation within two business days. In a statement Wednesday, Jeffries said that Johnson “should not recess the House of Representatives until we vote on the straightforward extension of the Affordable Care Act tax credits.”

The mutiny among moderate Republicans is the latest episode in growing dissatisfaction among Congress’ GOP majority under the second Trump administration. Several Republican lawmakers, including South Carolina Representative Nancy Mace and Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, have criticized the shrinking role of the legislature.

And Greene is one of several House Republicans who have announced in recent weeks that they will resign from Congress in what is shaping up to be a mass exodus of GOP lawmakers. As many as seven House Republicans have said they will leave the chamber, most recently Washington Representative Dan Newhouse.

The loss of so many GOP votes threatens the House’s already razor-thin Republican majority, making moderate revolts such as Wednesday’s all the more serious.

Meanwhile, the House is gearing up Wednesday to vote on the Republican health care proposal. According to a Tuesday report from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the legislation would slash more than $35 billion in government spending but could also cut health insurance for as many as 100,000 people.

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