1 of 4 | Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., speaks during a press conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo
House Speaker Mike Johnson said Tuesday he won’t call for an amendment vote to renew enhanced subsidies for the Affordable Care Act, ensuring higher health insurance premiums through the healthcare marketplace next year.
Speaking during a news conference after a House Republican Conference meeting, Johnson blamed the decision on about a dozen Republican members of the House in swing districts “fighting hard to make sure that they reduce costs for all of their constituents.”
“Many of them did want to vote on this Obamacare COVID-era subsidy that Democrats created,” said Johnson, R-La. “We looked for a way to try to allow for that pressure release valve, and it just was not to be.
“We worked on it all the way through the weekend, in fact. And in the end, there was not an agreement — it wasn’t made.”
The Hill reported that negotiations over the weekend were stalled by requirements among Republican leadership that any extension of subsidies would have to be paired with spending cuts.
The dropped amendment would have been on a healthcare bill set for a vote Wednesday. A number of moderate Republican House members had been in favor of extending the enhanced ACA subsidies, which were at the center of an impasse in a Senate vote on a stopgap funding measure that shuttered the government for six weeks this fall.
Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., told reporters he’s “pissed for the American people” and blamed leaders from both parties.
“This is absolute [expletive], and it’s absurd,” he said, according to NBC News.
“Everybody has a responsibility to serve their district, to serve their constituents. You know what’s funny? Three-quarters of people on Obamacare are in states [President] Donald Trump won. So maybe, just maybe, everybody should look at this and say, ‘how do we actually fix the healthcare system?'”
The House Rules Committee was expected to met Tuesday afternoon to discuss the healthcare legislation, called the Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act. Lawler said he will continue to argue his case for extended subsidies during the meeting.
This week in Washington
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., talks during a press conference at the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday. Johnson announced there won’t be a floor vote on the House-enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies extension, causing friction with swing-district House Republicans. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo
