Mike Johnson faces revolt as vulnerable Republicans weigh helping Dems force thorny vote
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) made clear that he will not take any action this year on health care reform bills, which would effectively guarantee millions of people's health care premiums will increase as extended Affordable Care Act subsidies expire. But several vulnerable, swing-district Republicans are weighing a revolt to join Democrats and force the issue, Axios reported on Tuesday.
"House moderates, some in tough reelection fights, feel they need to do something on the subsidies, but they're nowhere close to convincing their leadership," said the report. "The House is set to vote Wednesday on a 'consensus' GOP health care package, but an ACA fix is not likely to be among what passes."
According to that report, there are no current Republicans committed to signing House Democrats' discharge petition to bring their three-year extension of ACA subsidies to a vote on the floor without Johnson, but a number of them are considering it.
"'It's idiotic, it's political malpractice,' Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) told reporters Tuesday of Johnson refusing to give them an ACA extension vote," said the report. "Lawler, along with Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) and Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.), didn't rule out signing on to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries' (D-N.Y.) discharge petition."
Another embattled swing-seat GOP lawmaker, Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-VA), has already said she doesn't plan to sign it — and even those who are considering it acknowledge that if the bill makes it out of the House, Senate Republicans are unlikely to adopt it, having largely voted down an identical proposal last week.
All of this comes amid reporting that President Donald Trump, after having previously toyed with the idea of endorsing his own subsidy extension plan but pulling it as Johnson warned him the GOP won't back it, is currently staying out of the fray, letting Republicans in Congress try to work it all out themselves.