House to vote on ACA subsidies extension, as Senate mulls its own fix

The House on Thursday is expected to advance a three-year extension of Obamacare subsidies, sending the bill to the Senate where it faces an uphill climb.

The enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits were a key factor in the longest-ever government shutdown last fall. Their expiration at the end of 2025 led to premiums rising for millions of Americans who get their health insurance on ACA marketplaces. 

The Senate in December voted down a similar three-year extension of the enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits and lawmakers predict a similar fate if the proposal comes back to the floor. 

“What the House is going to pass tomorrow will not pass in the United States Senate,” Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, part of a bipartisan Senate working group negotiating a deal on the ACA tax credits, told reporters on Wednesday. “It probably wouldn’t be put on the floor, because why waste floor time on something we’ve already considered?”

In a gaggle on the Hill, Moreno said the House bill is useful in the sense that it can serve as a vehicle for the Senate working group to amend. Members of that group, including Moreno and Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, have said they are closing in on a deal that would extend the tax credits for two years, though several key sticking points remain.

Among them is the Hyde Amendment, a decades old policy that prohibits the use of federal funds for most abortions, which many Republicans want to strengthen. President Donald Trump earlier this week told Republicans to be “flexible” on Hyde, prompting some pushback from within the GOP ranks.

“We don’t do federal funding for abortions,” Moreno said. “That’s a long-standing tradition, nobody’s looking to change that.”

The Thursday vote on the House floor came after four moderate Republicans broke ranks at the end of last year and signed on to a Democrat-led discharge petition to force a vote on the ACA subsidies.

A discharge petition is a procedural tool that allows members of the House to circumvent leadership and force a vote on the floor if a majority of lawmakers sign on.

The discharge petition, introduced by Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., cleared a procedural hurdle Wednesday, with nine Republicans joining all Democrats voting in favor of the measure, despite opposition from Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.