Mike Johnson confronted by GOP moderates over Obamacare subsidies

A group of vulnerable House Republicans confronted Speaker Mike Johnson inside a closed-door meeting Wednesday about expiring Obamacare health insurance subsidies — and Johnson’s refusal to allow a vote on extending them.

Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) could be heard yelling outside the room where the centrist Republican Governance Group was meeting with Johnson in attendance, sounding off about GOP leaders’ opposition to a vote this week and mocking the assurance from some that Republicans could work on a party-line health care bill next year.

Lawler — who earlier in the day publicly accused GOP leaders of “political malpractice” — shot back that Republicans would “never” get a second reconciliation bill passed, despite the wishful thinking.

A stern Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-Va.) also pressed Johnson, according to three people in the room granted anonymity to describe the private meeting, asking why he and other leaders didn’t act sooner on the expiring subsides and health care generally.

The venting session was a remarkable climax to a monthslong debate within the GOP over how to address spiking insurance premiums for millions of Americans starting next year. In the view of many GOP moderates, the Obamacare subsidies are poised to lapse without any comprehensive plan over how to manage the inevitable political fallout ahead of the 2026 midterms.

The moderates are nonetheless making some last-minute moves to try to force the issue.

Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) submitted an amendment Tuesday to a narrow GOP health package set to hit the House floor this week that would extend the expiring tax credits for two years with anti-fraud and income eligibility restrictions. Kiggans is also expected to file an amendment that would extend the subsidies while cracking down on fraud, and there are efforts to craft a third amendment that Johnson told reporters might be amendable to a wider group of Republicans.

As Johnson left the meeting with the moderates, he brushed off the intraparty barbs, saying they were “trying to solve the equation” for everyone and the group had some ideas worth considering.

House Democrats are championing an alternative — a straight three-year extension of the expiring subsidies — and are urging a handful of Republicans to join a discharge petition that would force a floor vote on it.

The GOP moderates have previously rejected the Democrats’ proposal, arguing the subsidies need new guardrails. But Lawler said Tuesday morning, “All options are on the table,” while Fitzpatrick said after the Tuesday meeting, “Ask me after today.”