U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., speaks to reporters during a news conference on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. Also pictured, from left: Republican Conference Chairwoman Lisa McClain of Michigan, Majority Whip Tom Emmer of Minnesota and Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana. (Photo: Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)
WASHINGTON — U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson pledged Wednesday to hold a vote next week on a package of bills he says would lower health insurance premiums for hundreds of millions of Americans, not just those covered by Affordable Care Act plans.
But the Louisiana Republican’s pledge did not include any details on which bills would be included in the package or whether the legislation would require GOP votes to pass, given its members’ widely differing views on the federal government’s role in health care.
“You will be able to see a package that will be introduced next week that will actually lower premiums for 100% of Americans with health insurance,” Johnson said.
That will be a hard task for Johnson and other GOP leaders in the House because they hold a particularly slim majority of 220 to 213. Democrats are unlikely to support GOP bills that do not extend increased tax credits to people who buy health insurance through the ACA marketplace. Without tax credit subsidies, costs are expected to skyrocket.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said just after a closed-door meeting of House GOP lawmakers on health care that leaders were still finalizing which bills would be included in the package.
“Today we showed a list of what the three jurisdictional committees had been working on for months. Then we encouraged all members to express their opinions. And they did,” Scalise said. “Many members spoke at the microphone today, which is what we wanted. They gave us their comments. And honestly, many of them were very positive about these bills.”
Senate vote on Thursday
The House bills are part of a broader debate in Congress and the White House over the rising cost of living, including health care affordability, which came to the fore in October and November after Democrats shut down the government.
Senate Democrats during the six-week adjournment demanded a vote on extending the ACA’s enhanced marketplace tax credits, which are set to expire at the end of the year.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-D., promised Democrats a majority vote on their chosen health care bill in exchange for votes to end the shutdown.
The Senate is expected to vote on the matter on Thursday Democrat bill that would extend the ACA’s enhanced marketplace tax credits for three years.
Nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates this proposal would boost the federal deficit by $83 billion over the next decade.
This three-year extension will boost the number of people with health insurance by 400,000 in 2026, 3 million in 2027, 4 million in 2028 and 1.1 million in 2029 compared to current law.
Senators will also vote on Thursday on legislation from Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy and Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo, both Republicans, that would provide up to $1,500 a year to people who buy brown or catastrophic health insurance plans in the ACA marketplace.
The funds will go directly into a health savings account for people ages 18 to 64 who make up to 700% of the federal poverty level. That would be about $109,550 for one person or $225,050 for a family of four. Funding would run through 2026 and 2027 but will end thereafter.
Neither proposal is expected to receive the 60 votes needed to pass the Senate’s legislative filibuster rule. Even if the bill passed the Senate, it would still need to get a vote in the House, which seemed a long way off now that GOP leaders in the House are introducing their own package.
Coverage of abortion
South Carolina Republican Ralph Norman said after the conference meeting that the “devil is in the details” when it comes to which bills advance to the House floor, but added that GOP lawmakers have begun to reach a “consensus.”
Maryland Republican Andy Harris said he doesn’t believe GOP lawmakers are responsible for addressing any aspect of the Affordable Care Act, including expiring tax credits.
“It is not our responsibility to fix Obamacare,” Harris said. “They broke it. They should fix it.”
Harris, chairman of the far-right Freedom Caucus, said he would not support any bill expanding the ACA’s enhanced marketplace tax credits unless it circumscribed abortion access under those health insurance plans to cases of rape, incest or the life of the pregnant patient.
The issue has become a central negotiating point for many GOP lawmakers, even those who are open to extending the tax breaks for some time.
“The Moment of Truth”
Democrats argue that adding these restrictions, often called the Hyde Amendment, is unacceptable and would constitute a fresh restriction on abortion access.
“I don’t understand when there are so many Republicans in the House and the Senate says they understand it. Doubling and tripling these contributions is a disaster, why they want to make a fuss now and bring abortion policy into this,” said Minnesota Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar. “They know it won’t work.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said the only proposal on the table to extend the ACA’s enhanced marketplace tax credits to avoid a pointed boost in premiums next year is the Democrats’ bill.
“Tomorrow will be the moment of truth for Republicans here in the Senate,” Schumer said. “Are they going to lower health care costs, or are they going to sit idly by and let premiums explode for millions of Americans?”
Petition for discharge of bipartisan bill
Later in the day, a potential solution emerged from a bipartisan group of House lawmakers he applied for release this would force a majority vote on their compromise bill if they manage to obtain at least 218 signatures.
Pennsylvania Republican Brian Fitzpatrick said in a statement that the legislation is “a solution that can actually be passed, not an exercise in political messaging.”
“This bill provides the urgent help families need now while giving Congress a chance to continue improving our health care system for the long term,” Fitzpatrick wrote. “Responsible management means securing 80 percent of what families need today, rather than risking 100 percent of nothing tomorrow.”
The 79-page billFormally titled the Bipartisan Health Insurance Affordability Act, it is co-sponsored by Nebraska Republican Don Bacon, Pennsylvania Republican Rob Bresnahan, North Carolina Republican Donald Davis, Washington Democratic Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, Maine Democratic Rep. Jared Golden, New York Republican Nicole Malliotakis and New York Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi.
The legislation would, among other things, extend enhanced ACA marketplace tax credits through 2027 and expand access to health savings accounts.
Golden wrote in a statement announcing the bill’s introduction Tuesday that it “places reasonable income limits” on who can receive tax credits in the ACA marketplace.
“This moment requires leaders to leave their partisan corners behind and take charge,” Golden wrote. “Our bill provides a path out of the impasse and to find solutions.”
Gluesenkamp Perez wrote that no one “wants to spend more money with insurance companies or intermediaries (pharmacy benefits manager).
“At the same time, we cannot lose sight of the fact that national health is not about insurance – it is about people having good jobs, being able to sleep 8 hours a night, cooking real food and seeing their children at night,” she added. “Affordable health care and medicine are necessary and worth fighting for, but a strong nation takes more work.”
Jacob Fischler contributed to this report.
