House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D., N.Y.) speaking to reporters Thursday after the House vote on extending expired ACA healthcare subsidies.© Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters
WASHINGTON—A middle-of-the-night deal back in early July shows just how strongly some Republicans don’t want to extend the expired Affordable Care Act subsidies.
Hours before the Republican-led House narrowly passed President Trump’s “big beautiful” tax bill without any Democratic votes**,** the White House and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.) made a series of concessions to win over GOP hard-liners. One was a promise to House Freedom Caucus members to oppose a “clean” extension—meaning one with no changes—of the enhanced ACA health-insurance credits, according to people with knowledge of the agreement.
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That issue is now front and center on Capitol Hill and dividing the Republican Party. Democrats, joined by a handful of Republicans, bypassed Johnson to force a vote on a clean three-year extension of the ACA subsidies, which benefit more than 20 million people. The bill then passed Thursday evening on a vote of 230-196, with 17 Republicans who mostly represent competitive districts siding with Democrats.
The proposal isn’t expected to become law, but it could provide momentum for continuing talks in the Senate centered on a two-year extension paired with income caps to limit eligibility as well as provisions designed to crack down on fraud.
The vote underlined how some centrist Republicans, concerned about constituents facing sharp cost increases and worried about a possible blue wave in the midterms, are willing to break with their party. No Republican voted for the original ACA nor its expansion in 2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic.
