9 Republicans send Trump a warning shot ahead of health care fiasco

Sometimes, the boring procedural moves in Congress can be the most revealing when it comes to President Donald Trump's relationship with the Republicans in Congress.

Nine Republicans on Wednesday voted to pass a discharge petition on a Democratic bill that would extend the Affordable Care Act subsidies for three years. Republicans promised to hold a vote on the subsidies by the end of December 2025 as part of a deal to end the most recent government shutdown, but have demurred.

The Republicans who voted to pass the discharge petition are Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Rob Bresnahan (R-PA), Tom Kean (R-NJ), Nick LaLota (R-NY), Mike Lawler (R-NY), Ryan Mackenzie (R-PA), Max Miller (R-OH), Maria Elvira-Salazar (R-FL), and David Valadao (R-CA), reported Jake Sherman of Punchbowl News.

The move sets up a chance that the House of Representatives could pass the bill by the end of the week.

It happened at a time when Trump is facing considerable pressure from Republicans to release the rest of the FBI files from disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, as he's required to do by federal law. The initial deadline for the release was Dec.19, but the Department of Justice has delayed releasing any more documents, citing the need for redactions and allegedly discovering two million new files.