The conservative Wall Street Journal editorial board scolded House Republicans for allowing themselves to fall into Democrats' "trap" on Affordable Care Act subsidies, as the caucus turns on itself and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) loses control.
After Johnson refused to allow a vote on Democrats' clean three-year extension of the expanded subsidies, four House Republicans in vulnerable districts crossed over to back Democrats' discharge petition, guaranteeing a vote — which the GOP hastily kicked the can on by shutting down the roll call, pushing things back to January when insurance premiums will already be spiking for millions of people.
This incident, the board wrote, proves that "as President [Donald] Trump’s approval rating has sunk, some Republicans have decided it’s every Member for himself."
"As we reported on Tuesday, Mr. Johnson negotiated a GOP consensus bill of insurance-market reforms that didn’t extend the subsidies. The legislation’s goal is to give workers and small businesses an alternative to the heavily subsidized ObamaCare plans — and give Republicans an alternative they could point to with voters," wrote the board. "But New York’s Mike Lawler and Pennsylvania’s Brian Fitzpatrick, Rob Bresnahan and Ryan Mackenzie went their own way and signed a Democratic petition to force a vote on a three-year subsidy extension. They did so even though Mr. Johnson suggested they could have a vote on an amendment to his bill if they could find spending cuts to offset the cost of the extension."
Worse, the board said, the Republicans who triggered the chaos knew the headache they were creating for their own party.
"As Mr. Lawler correctly observed, Democrats want the ObamaCare subsidy expiration to bludgeon Republicans," said the board. "'They want the issue,' Mr. Lawler told Politico. 'That’s why [Minority Leader] Chuck Schumer put a nonsensical three-year vote on the floor of the Senate when given an opportunity.' If it’s nonsensical, why is Mr. Lawler supporting nonsense?"
The bottom line, the board concluded, is that "Democrats laid a political trap for Republicans with the expiring subsidies, and the four renegades have fallen into it. If Republicans want to vote like Democrats, why vote for a Republican majority?"
