Four Republicans defy Mike Johnson to sign Democratic petition to force vote on healthcare subsidies

Four Republicans from swing districts defied House Speaker Mike Johnson to side with the Democrats to sign a discharge petition to force a vote to extend the expanded health care tax credits for the Affordable Care Act.

Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Mike Lawler of New York, Ryan Mackenzie of Pennsylvania and Rob Bresnahan joined a discharge petition sponsored by House Minority Leader to extend the expanded tax credits for the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance marketplace.

This comes as the tax credits–which Joe Biden signed during in 2021 during the throes of the Covid-19 pandemic and which he extended in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act–are set to expire at the end of the month. More than 22 million people who receive their insurance on the marketplace risk seeing their premiums double or triple.

The House is set to recess at the end of this week. But Jeffries called on the House to stay in session.

“Mike Johnson should not recess the House of Representatives until we vote on the straightforward extension of the Affordable Care Act tax credits,” Jeffries told The Independent. “We now have a bipartisan group of members of the House of Representatives who are prepared to ensure that tens of millions of Americans don’t experience dramatically increased health insurance premiums.”

Many of the Republicans on the petition face difficult re-elections. Fitzpatrick and Lawler represent two of the three Republican-held districts that also voted for Kamala Harris.

“This morning I signed the discharge for the clean 3-year extension of the enhanced premium tax credit,” Lawler said in a statement. “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.”