Moderate Republicans buck leaders with bid to force vote on Obamacare subsidies

A group of moderate Republicans is challenging House GOP leaders to try to force a vote on extending enhanced Obamacare benefits that expire at the end of this year.

Republicans led by Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., on Wednesday introduced a measure known as a recall petition, a mechanism designed to force a vote on legislation on leadership’s wishes, provided it gets support from a majority of lawmakers in the House.

A series of dramatic events unfolded on the House floor, as House GOP leaders worked to gain support for an unrelated vote that initially appeared poised to fail.

While a group of conservatives threatened to rebel against Republicans on that vote for separate reasons, several moderates also appeared to withhold their votes altogether, and were seen on Fox News Digital in tense discussions with the Speaker of the House. Mike JohnsonRepublican from Los Angeles, and other Republican Party leaders.

Bipartisan agreement on Obama’s health care support fades as Republicans push HSA plan

Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick, left, and Mike Lawler, right, were among the House Republicans who led a furlough petition over the end of Obamacare subsidies despite objections from House Speaker Mike Johnson, center, to such a move. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images; Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images; Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

These moderates ultimately voted to pass the legislation at hand before marching to the front of the House chamber to present their recall petition. One by one, they lined up to sign the document that would move their health care agenda full steam ahead despite Johnson signaling a lack of appetite to entertain it.

So far, the petition has the support of six Republican members of the House of Representatives and two Democrats, but its numbers are expected to grow over time. The looming abyss of health care costs Millions are waiting across the country.

“We know that we need a temporary extension of tax breaks – with reforms – and then we can do more serious things, but we will not make serious changes in [Affordable Care Act] “In the next two or three weeks. So, we felt that since there was no incentive to do this, we would try to force this issue,” Nebraska Republican Rep. Don Bacon, one of the signatories, told Fox News Digital.

Democrats are doing everything they can to keep Obama’s support for health care alive after the vote to reopen the government

Asked if he thought they would get the blessing of House GOP leaders, Bacon said: “Probably not.”

Fitzpatrick’s bill aims to advance a two-year extension of Obamacare subsidies that Democrats expanded during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Congressional Democrats voted twice during the pandemic to expand premium tax credits for Obamacare, also called the Affordable Care Act (ACA), to make sure more Americans have health care coverage.

Rep. Don Bacon arrives for the House Republican Conference meeting at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on May 6, 2025. (Andrew Harnick/Getty Images)

GOP unveils plan for ‘Trump Health Freedom Accounts’ to replace Obama health care subsidies with state waivers

Majority Republicans in the House of Representatives They indicated that they were not open to extending it, at least not without major reforms. Conservatives in particular have criticized the enhanced subsidies as a relic of the COVID-19 era that benefited insurance companies rather than Americans.

But some GOP lawmakers have joined Democrats in warning that failure to extend them at least temporarily at this point will result in millions of Americans seeing their policies overturned. Health care premiums are rising dramatically While Congress refuses to act.

Rep. Ryan McKenzie, R-Pa., another Republican who signed the petition, said House GOP leaders have indicated they are “going to put forward” a number of health care reforms “that are very positive in nature,” but “an extension of the Affordable Care Act tax credits was not included in that package.”

SCALISE announces sweeping GOP health care overhaul coming in ‘next few weeks’ amid battle over subsidy expiration

“So, we’ve been talking about this and advocating for it to move forward, and so this seemed like the best way to do it,” McKenzie said.

“The reason we got into this mess to begin with is because things were done in an unexpected way,” he told Fox News Digital Party fashion. Therefore, I believe that if we want longevity, reforms and changes, we must do it in a bipartisan way.

“It’s a time-sensitive issue, and it’s an existential issue for the people back home that we care about that this is a very real problem,” Fitzpatrick told reporters. “You try to do things through the natural route, you try to do things through the regular route. And when all those treatments are exhausted, you have to go that route, unfortunately.”

Asked if that was prompted by moderates’ conversation on the House floor with Johnson, Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., said: “It was clear that, given the time frame and some of the differences within our conference on certain issues, the bill was not going to come up. And so I think we all recognize the importance of passing the extension.”

But it is not clear whether Democratic leaders in the House of Representativeswho have their own discharge petition to extend Obamacare benefits for three years, will support the bill. It likely will not succeed without the approval of all Democrats in the House of Representatives.

Rep. Jared Golden attends a news conference at the Capitol Visitors Center in Washington on July 17, 2025. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

When asked if his leaders would support it, Rep. Jared Golden, Democrat of Maine, said: “Go ask them. But I think they should.”

Click here to download the FOX NEWS app

For his part, Johnson told reporters that impeachment petitions are “usually used as a tool against the majority,” but said he was “very sympathetic” to the concerns of moderate Republicans.

“We’ve spent many hours trying to find a way out of our dilemma,” Johnson said. “With regard to these extensions, there are a lot of people who are very concerned about Obamacare and the fact that Democrats created the subsidies for limited use in the age of COVID.”

“We can’t get Republican votes on this for many reasons, but not enough. And so, my colleagues made a decision. I’m not making the decision against them personally, and I don’t work that way. I have great respect for these guys, and I understand the situation they’re in in their districts, and we’ll see how it goes.”