‘Stay tuned’: House Republicans prepare for health care blitz
House Republican Leadership will soon be bringing a health care package to the floor—but first, they want to make sure the “five families” of the House GOP are on board.
On Friday, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., met with what are known as the “five families” of the House Republican conference to iron out some of the health care package details.
These factions include the fiscal hawks of the House Freedom Caucus, the swing district members of the Main Street Caucus, the Republican Study Committee, of which a majority of House Republicans are members, and the Problem Solvers Caucus and Republican Governance Group, blocs that pride themselves on bipartisanship.
House GOP Health Care Plan Drops Next Week
After the meeting, Republican leaders told reporters that health care legislation would be hitting the floor next week.
“Stay tuned,” Johnson told reporters of the timing. “We’re excited about what we’ll put on the floor next week, and we’re putting the final components together.”
Johnson’s comments come after days of speculation on whether or not Republicans would follow through on bringing forth a health care package.
During a House press conference on Wednesday, Johnson had promised that a health care proposal would be coming despite the fact that the conference had shown signs of division with respect to health care solutions.
The urgency for Republicans to pass a health care plan stem from continued debates over President Joe Biden’s boosts to health care tax credits that are set to expire.
Democrats shut down the government in October over demands to extend these credits, even though they had voted twice to make the enhancements temporary rather than permanent in party-line votes under Biden.
Now, Republicans are faced with a sudden cut-off of the COVID-19-era credit levels.
Republican Proposals
So far, Republicans in the House have offered various proposals for an alternative to the credits, which could help ease the cost of premiums and counter Democrat arguments that Republicans do not care about health care affordability.
Many of these proposals involve setting up health savings accounts that would go directly to the consumer and allow them more flexibility in selecting their care than a premium tax credit.
Republicans have kept mum about the details of the incoming package, although Johnson confirmed to The Daily Signal Wednesday that their legislation will include pro-life Hyde provisions against taxpayer funds going to abortions.
But there is also a bloc of House Republicans, many from blue states, who are advocating for at least a short-term extension of the credits.
Republican leadership members confirmed that there was discussion Friday about whether to allow these House Republican moderates a vote on an amendment to extend the credits.
“That’s still being discussed, but it was heavily discussed. We’ve just got to work a few things out,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said.
Will a Discharge Petition Force Johnson’s Hand?
There are now multiple discharge petitions to extend the premium tax credits. Discharge petitions are a tool used to bypass House leadership and force a bill to get a vote by getting the signatures of a majority of members.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., has his own discharge petition to force a vote on a bill to extend the credits for three years.
Additionally, there are two discharge petitions for a short-term extension of the credits picking up the support of several House Republicans. One comes from Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., and would extend the subsidies for two years. The other was filed by Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., and would also force a vote for a separate bill to extend the credits for two years.
On Friday, Jeffries did not make clear whether he would consider lending his support to one of these bills.
“We’re actively reviewing those two discharge petitions, and we’ll have more to say about it early next week.”
But Jeffries also told reporters that if the Republican package ends up including an amendment for a two-year extension of the credits, he likely would not back it.
“Their health care package, as I understand it, is likely to be a disaster and actually not enhance the health care of the American people,” Jeffries told reporters. “It will take away from it. So, it’s not clear to me that, even if it’s amended to include whatever Fitzpatrick has proposed, that it will actually solve the problem of addressing the Republican health crisis.”
Will Republicans Scrap the Biden COVID-19 Credits?
Republicans do have to resolve difficult disagreements within their caucus about the credits.
Nevertheless, the vast majority of Republicans oppose a clean extension of the credits, viewing them as merely a way to mask the costs of a failed health care system.
Republicans also argue these credits are inflationary and prone to fraud.
One such Republican is Rep. Keith Self of Texas, a House Freedom Caucus member who called for allowing the expiration of the credits on Friday.
“The Obamacare subsidy scheme drives up costs at the expense of the American taxpayer while using the American people’s hard-earned money to fund procedures like transgender surgeries and abortions,” Self wrote in a post on X.
“No Republican has ever voted for these subsidies. We should keep it that way. Let Biden’s COVID-era subsidies EXPIRE!”
[Editor’s note: This story originally was published by The Daily Signal.]