Four moderate House Republicans are rebelling against Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to join his Democratic counterpart in forcing a vote on enhanced Obamacare subsidies set to expire at the end of this year.
Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., Ryan Mackenzie, R-Pa., Rob Bresnahan, R-Pa., and Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., all joined a discharge petition by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., on his push for a three-year extension of the subsidies.
A discharge petition is a mechanism for overriding the will of House leaders to get a chamber-wide vote on specific legislation, provided it has support from a majority of lawmakers.
In this case, the four House Republicans’ signatures put Jeffries’ petition at 218 — clinching the critical majority threshold.
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« I’ve always supported bipartisan solutions that would bring about healthcare affordability in this country, » Mackenzie told Fox News Digital on Wednesday of his decision. « Leader Jeffries and the Democrats have refused to sign onto either of those bipartisan solutions. And so at this point, our leadership is not calling up a bill to extend the [Obamacare] tax credits. »
He called for a vote on the Democrat-led solution as well as two bipartisan bills offering one and two-year extensions, respectively, with reforms.
It comes despite Johnson warning Republicans earlier on Wednesday not to support Jeffries’ petition, arguing it was not the best way to legislate.
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Johnson told CNBC’s « Squawk Box » that it was effectively « doing an end-run around the majority party, the speaker or the regular process is not the best way to make law. »
The House is expected to vote on a bill that Republicans say is aimed at lowering healthcare costs for all Americans, without extending the subsidies — which they argue are part of a deeply flawed public healthcare system.
Moderate Republicans offered several amendments to the legislation aimed at extending the Obamacare subsidies during a House Rules Committee meeting to advance the bill on Tuesday, but all were rejected by their fellow GOP lawmakers on the panel.
« While I have been working for a bipartisan compromise with reforms, the failure of leadership to allow a vote on the floor left me with no choice but to sign the Democrats’ discharge petition, » Lawler said in a statement on X.
« The speaker should immediately bring it to the floor for an up-or-down vote and let the House do the work of the American people. »
Because of the timing constraints of a discharge petition, the earliest the House could consider the Jeffries bill would be early next year.
Source link : https://www.foxnews.com/politics/four-republicans-buck-mike-johnson-join-hakeem-jeffries-obamacare-push
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Publish date : 2025-12-17 16:55:00
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