WASHINGTON (AP) — Overpowering Speaker Mike Johnson, a bipartisan coalition in the House voted Wednesday to push forward a measure that would revive an enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidy that had expired last month. The change is aimed at lowering health insurance costs for roughly 22 million people, and the House passed the bill 221-205, a key test before passage that was expected Thursday.
The vote came after four GOP centrist lawmakers signed a so-called discharge petition to force the measure onto the House floor. The four lawmakers said that, after a government shutdown last year failed to resolve the issue, doing nothing was not an option as many of their constituents were set to see soaring health insurance premiums beginning this month.
Rep. Mike Lawler of New York, one of the Republicans who crossed party lines to back the Democratic proposal, described it as a way to help senators reach a compromise. “No matter the issue, if the House puts forward relatively strong, bipartisan support, it makes it easier for the senators to get there,” Lawler said.
In the end, nine Republicans joined Democrats to advance the measure. If the House vote leads to passage this week, it would signal bipartisan support for a proposed three-year extension of the tax credits available for people who buy insurance through the Affordable Care Act, sometimes referred to as Obamacare.
The discharge-petition maneuver was described as an affront to Johnson and GOP leaders, who faced a loss of control of the House agenda as the renegade lawmakers worked around leadership opposition. The AP story said that, even with House action, the Senate would not be required to take up the bill.
Instead, a smaller group of lawmakers from both parties has been working on an alternative plan that could attract support in both chambers. One proposal discussed would shorten the extension of the subsidy to two years and make changes to the program.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said any plan passing muster in the Senate would need income limits to target help to those who most need it, and that beneficiaries would have to pay at least a nominal amount for their coverage. Thune said, “insurance companies can’t game the system and auto-enroll people.” He also said a Senate proposal would need expansion of health savings accounts, which he described as accounts that allow people to save money and withdraw it tax-free as long as it is spent on qualified medical expenses.
Democrats have been pressing the issue and linking it to their political strategy for the fall elections. The AP reported that Democrats are making clear that higher health insurance costs many Americans are facing will be a centerpiece of efforts to win back majorities in the House and Senate.
Before Wednesday’s vote, Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who led his party’s effort to push the health care issue forward, challenged Republicans in competitive congressional districts to join if they wanted to prevent steep premium increases for their constituents. Jeffries said: “address the health care crisis in this country and make sure that tens of millions of people have the ability to go see a doctor when they need one.”
The discharge petition reached the threshold of 218 signatures needed to force a House vote, with the AP story describing four Pennsylvania Republicans—Brian Fitzpatrick, Robert Bresnahan and Ryan Mackenzie—along with Lawler as the GOP signatories. It said all four represent key swing districts involved in determining which party controls the House next year.
The AP story said Johnson had discussed allowing more politically vulnerable GOP lawmakers a chance to vote on legislation that would temporarily extend the subsidies while also adding changes such as income caps for beneficiaries, but leadership aligned with the more conservative wing of the party conference after days of discussions. That wing has assailed the subsidies as propping up a failed program.
Discharge petitions are generally rare vehicles, the AP story noted, but this session of Congress provided an exception. The AP said a vote requiring the Department of Justice to release Jeffrey Epstein files occurred after Reps. Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie introduced a petition for the Epstein Files Transparency Act, backed by all House Democrats and four Republicans.