By Siobhan Hughes, Anna Wilde Mathews and Lindsay Wise
WASHINGTON -- Congressional Republican leaders appeared to close the door on compromise efforts to renew expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies before the start of the new year, rejecting proposals that would head off sharp increases in health-insurance costs.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.) said Tuesday that the House wouldn't hold an amendment vote on a bipartisan measure led by Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R., Pa.) to extend the subsidies for two years, paired with changes to the program, when it votes Wednesday on a Republican healthcare alternative.
His comments followed intense, through-the-weekend talks in which centrists pressed for the chance to vote on a compromise plan that would both extend the subsidies but respond to Republican criticisms about abuse of the program. Many of these GOP lawmakers are running for re-election next year in swing districts and are worried about the political backlash if no deal is reached.
"Many of them did want a vote," Johnson said about centrist Republicans. "We looked for a way to try to allow for that pressure relief valve, and it just was not to be." He said that efforts to hold a vote on extending subsidies fell apart over how to come up with a way to offset the cost.
The House GOP bill set for Wednesday would expand access to association health plans, which generally allow small employers to band together and provide health insurance, and appropriate money to fund the cost-sharing reductions that reduce out-of-pocket spending for lower-income ACA enrollees. It doesn't include any ACA extensions or the health savings accounts favored by many Republicans.
A day earlier, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R., S.D.) ruled out holding a vote on a straight three-year ACA extension, an approach pursued by House Democrats, after a similar measure failed to advance in the Senate last week.
Republican and Democratic centrists have been fighting to find a middle ground to avoid the price spikes that will hit about 20 million Americans next year when enhanced federal subsidies expire. But many GOP lawmakers staunchly oppose any ACA extension, while many Democrats are insisting on a multiyear extension with no changes -- such as income caps -- and see no reason to give ground headed into the midterm elections.
Congress leaves town after this week and isn't set to return until the new year.
A law first enacted in 2021 during the pandemic expanded and enlarged tax credits for buying health insurance through the ACA marketplace. Starting next year, the subsidies will revert to prepandemic levels for lower- and middle-income Americans, who represent the majority of people covered by the plans. The subsidies will end entirely for households earning more than four times the federal poverty line.
"I see this as a failure of leadership on both sides," said Rep. Kevin Kiley (R., Calif.), who has introduced his own measure extending the subsidies.
Lawmakers still searching for a solution weighed their next moves Tuesday. But with no obvious path forward, centrist Democrats and Republicans resorted to publicly challenging their leaders.
Some House Democrats urged their leadership to back one of two bipartisan petitions led by Fitzpatrick or Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D., N.J.), while some Republicans indicated they might try to sign on to a petition by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D., N.Y.) to circumvent Republican leaders and bring a three-year extension of the subsidies directly to the floor.
Centrist Republicans including Kiley and Rep. Mike Lawler (R., N.Y.) openly flirted with the idea of signing on to Jeffries's discharge petition. "All options are on the table," Lawler told reporters. But he also criticized Jeffries for digging in on a three-year extension of the subsidies rather than considering a compromise.
A three-year extension of the enhanced ACA subsidies would add around $83 billion to the federal deficit, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
On the other side of the Capitol, about 20 senators from both parties met for two hours on Monday night in a last-ditch effort to find a way forward on the subsidies. Afterward, Sen. Susan Collins (R., Maine) said there had been widespread support for producing a result, though she acknowledged time had run out for Congress to pass a fix for the subsidies before they expire at the end of the year.
But Collins said lawmakers could try to extend the open enrollment period for Obamacare enrollees before they leave Washington for the holidays at the end of this week. That would give bipartisan negotiators in the Senate more time to come up with a viable plan when Congress returns in January.
"People were very practical, and they want a result," Collins said. "And that group was very diverse ideologically also, and I think that bodes well for coming up with a solution."
Write to Siobhan Hughes at Siobhan.hughes@wsj.com, Anna Wilde Mathews at Anna.Mathews@wsj.com and Lindsay Wise at lindsay.wise@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 16, 2025 13:47 ET (18:47 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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