Name: Lawmakers leaving D.C. without health insurance tax credits extension
Uploaded: 2025-12-19T00:06:15.379Z
Duration: 3 min 24 s
Description: Democratic and Republican lawmakers are preparing to depart from Capitol Hill without a resolution to a looming health insurance problem that will affect millions of Americans.

Democratic and Republican lawmakers are preparing to depart from Capitol Hill without a resolution to a looming health insurance problem that will affect millions of Americans.

Washington

U.S. House lawmakers have passed a Republican-backed health care bill that does not include an extension of expiring Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits, with the vote occurring less than two weeks before the subsidies are set to lapse. Several Republicans joined Democrats in signing a discharge petition to force a vote on a three-year ACA extension, but House rules prevent any such vote until January, after Congress returns from its holiday recess.

With no bipartisan agreement reached, the expiration of the ACA tax subsidies is expected to increase costs for individuals on the exchanges. The Senate has not committed to considering the House bill, and leaders from both parties have indicated that health care will be a legislative focus next year, though approaches differ and any new plan will require Democratic support in the Senate.

Lawmakers leaving D.C. without health insurance tax credits extension

On Capitol Hill, House lawmakers passed a GOP-backed health care bill, but it does not include any extension to those expiring subsidies under the Affordable Care Act. The vote comes less than two weeks before those credits expire. The House GOP bill still needs Senate approval. At the same time, several Republicans sided with Democrats by signing a discharge petition to vote on a three-year ACA extension. However, that vote cannot happen until January. CBS News Congressional Correspondent Kaitlin Huey Burns is live on Capitol Hill for us today. Kaitlin, what are you hearing about this discharge petition, and why could it not see a full vote until next year? Well, Mugo, as we were talking yesterday, that was big news that you saw four Republicans buck their party leadership in support that discharge petition to essentially force a vote on the House floor to extend those Obamacare tax subsidies. Now, House Speaker Mike Johnson told us last night that, according to House rules, you need seven days at least to consider any sort of discharge petition, so he won't be able to bring it up until the next year. I should note, Mugo, though, that Congress is leaving town today for the rest of the year. They're heading out on the holiday recess. They won't be back until after January 5th. So basically, we're at a point where these tax subsidies are going to expire, costs will go up for those on the exchanges. The question is, can they patch something together when they come back? That remains to be seen. According to lawmakers that I've been talking to, there is some support for some kind of deal on health care. There's just not a bipartisan wide agreement on what exactly that should look like. But there is this acknowledgement that costs for health care are high and it's going to be an issue, especially in those midterm elections next year. Oh, yeah. And Caitlin, we mentioned the GOP health care bill that passed the House just yesterday. What is the likelihood that it clears the Senate? That's right. And that package did not include the extension of those enhanced tax credits. What it did was it would allow small businesses to pool together insurance and had some policies in there aimed at lowering drug costs. The Senate has said they'll take a look and see, but no guarantee that they'll take that up. But Muga, what yesterday was really about in terms of that bill was for House Republicans to say, here is our plan or here is at least our attempt to address an issue that we know most Americans are concerned about in some way, no matter their party line. So really, you're seeing an attempt to say, hey, we had something, but it doesn't look likely that that will really go really far at this point. Both Republican leaders in both chambers have said that they want to spend next year working on the issue of health care, but they do have different ways about going about it. And the consensus among Republicans is that they don't want to spend more money on the Affordable Care Act. And so we'll see whether they can get around another plan that passes muster with Democrats, because as you know, on the Senate side, you're going to need Democrats to pass anything. Oh, yeah. I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens come next year. Caitlin Huey Burns, thank you so much for your time today.

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