{"id":16782,"date":"2025-12-16T13:16:51","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T13:16:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/capitol-agenda-parallel-pushes-for-an-11th-hour-health-deal\/"},"modified":"2025-12-16T13:16:51","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T13:16:51","slug":"capitol-agenda-parallel-pushes-for-an-11th-hour-health-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/capitol-agenda-parallel-pushes-for-an-11th-hour-health-deal\/","title":{"rendered":"Capitol agenda: Parallel pushes for an 11th-hour health deal"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Rank-and-file dealmakers in both chambers are making last-ditch attempts to extend key Obamacare subsidies this week, even as it becomes crystal clear the subsidies will expire first.<\/p>\n

House GOP moderates are hashing out what sort of extension to offer as an amendment at Tuesday afternoon\u2019s Rules meeting \u2014 even as they signal they will fall in line<\/a> with Speaker Mike Johnson\u2019s health care plan whether they get a vote or not. A bipartisan Senate group is working simultaneously toward an extension framework that they hope to announce by the end of the week<\/a>, while acknowledging it won\u2019t get a vote till next year.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s where the mod movement in each chamber stands.<\/p>\n

\u2014 In the House: <\/b>Majority Leader Steve Scalise said Monday night there\u2019s no \u201cfinal decision\u201d on putting a subsidy extension amendment on the floor. Tuesday morning\u2019s GOP Conference meeting could get heated as frustrated moderates \u2014 who call a subsidy extension omission \u201ca huge mistake\u201d \u2014 make their last plea for a vote.<\/p>\n

But they face a huge obstacle at the 2 p.m. Rules meeting Tuesday afternoon, where Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) and other moderates are unlikely to get a warm welcome from the panel\u2019s conservative hard-liners, who are firmly against extending Obamacare in any form.<\/p>\n

The moderates could pull a page out of the Freedom Caucus playbook and threaten to tank the rule or the underlying bill in return, but that does not appear to be in the cards: \u201cI wouldn\u2019t vote against it in protest,\u201d Fitzpatrick said.<\/p>\n

\u2014 In the Senate:\u00a0<\/b>Meanwhile, nearly two dozen senators convened by Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) discussed issuing a roadmap this week toward a bipartisan deal.<\/p>\n

The rough framework under discussion would pair a two-year subsidy extension with a new income eligibility cap and fraud prevention language. A potential extension of open enrollment for Obamacare exchanges and possible restrictions on abortion funding also remain under consideration.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s similar to Fitzpatrick\u2019s proposal in the House, but the two efforts so far are entirely parallel. But there is some hope they might eventually converge: Rank-and-file senators are invited to join a Problem Solvers Caucus meeting Fitzpatrick is hosting Wednesday to discuss a joint effort.<\/p>\n

But this much is clear: The Dec. 31 deadline for the subsidies is certain to come and go.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe calendar precludes getting something done this week,\u201d Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) told reporters. \u201cBut, still, a commitment to work together is a lot of progress.\u201d<\/p>\n

What else we\u2019re watching:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

\u2014 Boat strikes oversight:<\/b> The Pentagon will make video of the Sept. 2 strikes on an alleged drug boat leaving Venezuela available to all members of the House and Senate Armed Services committees later this week, a White House official said. It\u2019s only been shown thus far to the Gang of Eight leaders as well as top members of the Armed Services and Defense Appropriations panels.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Approps movement in the Senate: <\/b>Senate Republicans are getting close to reaching agreement within their own ranks to move a five-bill spending package before they leave for the holiday recess. Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) said that he and Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) are in discussions with GOP leaders to get a vote stripping earmarks out of the package and potentially also an amendment related to balancing the budget.<\/p>\n

\u2014 SPEED Act speeds through: <\/b>The House GOP\u2019s flagship legislation to speed up federal permitting for energy projects is on track for the chamber floor after House Rules agreed to allow amendment votes demanded by conservative hard-liners \u2014 including three from foes of offshore wind, who had otherwise threatened to oppose the measure. One of those amendments would strip language that would limit the president’s power to revoke approved permits for energy projects.<\/p>\n

Meredith Lee Hill, Jordain Carney, Jennifer Scholtes and Josh Siegel contributed to this report.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rank-and-file dealmakers in both chambers are making last-ditch attempts to extend key Obamacare subsidies this week, even as it becomes crystal clear the subsidies will expire first. House GOP moderates are hashing out what sort of extension to offer as an amendment at Tuesday afternoon\u2019s Rules meeting \u2014 even as they signal they will fall […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16782"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16782\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}