Houses passes ACA subsidies; fate of bill murky in Senate

“What the House is going to pass tomorrow will not pass in the United States Senate,” Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, part of the Senate group, told reporters on Wednesday. “It probably wouldn’t be put on the floor, because why waste floor time on something we’ve already considered?”

In a gaggle on the Hill, Moreno said the House bill is useful in the sense that it can serve as a vehicle for the Senate working group to amend. Members of that group, including Moreno and Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, have said they are closing in on a deal that would extend the tax credits for two years, though several key sticking points remain.

Among them is the Hyde Amendment, a decades old policy that prohibits the use of federal funds for most abortions, which many Republicans want to strengthen. President Donald Trump earlier this week told Republicans to be “flexible” on Hyde, prompting some pushback from within the GOP ranks.

“We don’t do federal funding for abortions,” Moreno said. “That’s a long-standing tradition, nobody’s looking to change that.”

CNN reported on Thursday that some GOP Senators were privately open to leaving the Hyde Amendment as is.

The Thursday vote on the House floor came after four moderate Republicans broke ranks at the end of last year and signed on to a Democrat-led discharge petition to force a vote on the ACA subsidies.

A discharge petition is a procedural tool that allows members of the House to circumvent leadership and force a vote on the floor if a majority of lawmakers sign on.

The discharge petition, introduced by Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., cleared a procedural hurdle Wednesday, with nine Republicans joining all Democrats voting in favor of the measure, despite opposition from Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La. Eleven Republican voted with Democrats on a second procedural vote earlier Thursday.

“What we do here today will not be the end of the effort that is necessary, but we can begin the effort that is necessary and extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits,” Jeffries said on the House floor ahead of the final vote.

Article source: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/08/obamacare-subsidies-extension-congress.html