By Dave Goldiner
New York Daily News
(TNS)
Rep. Mike Lawler (R-New York) Tuesday called out fellow Republican congressional leaders for blocking a vote on extending Affordable Care Act tax credits that could spare millions of Americans from massive increases in health insurance premiums.
The Westchester County congressman raged at House Speaker Mike Johnson after the GOP leader told a closed-doors Republican meeting that he won’t allow a vote on a plan to save the Obamacare subsidies pushed by Lawler and a handful of endangered moderates from swing districts.
“This is absolute bulls–t,” Lawler said. “It’s idiotic not to have an up-or-down vote on this issue. It is political malpractice.”
Lawler and a few other Republicans say they were promised the opportunity to vote on extending the tax credits as an amendment to a grab bag GOP health plan expected to come up on the House floor Wednesday.
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GOP leaders feared the amendment bolstering Obamacare could pass with the support of Democrats. That in turn could have led to most other Republican lawmakers rejecting the entire bill, a development that would torpedo efforts to give Republicans some talking points on the impending health insurance price hikes.
Lawler and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pennsylvania), who both represent suburban swing districts President Trump lost in 2024, say they are considering joining Democrats in pushing to force a vote on a separate standalone effort to extend the tax credits and avert the outsized price increases.
“All options are on the table,” Lawler said.
The latest bitter squabble suggests there is virtually no chance of a last-minute deal that could save more than 20 million Americans from being slammed with huge health insurance price hikes starting Jan. 1.
Outnumbered GOP moderates like Lawler fear the GOP inaction could spell disaster in the 2026 midterms with voters blaming Trump and his Republican allies for mismanaging the economy and failing to keep a lid on rising prices.
The fight amounts to the latest sign that the GOP has few answers to deal with health care after 15 years of fighting tooth and nail to repeal or hobble former President Barack Obama’s signature policy.
Trump himself has shown little interest in expending any political capital on the issue, leaving various Republican congressional factions to feud with one another over various conservative health policy proposals.
Democrats have mostly stuck to their guns on demanding a simple extension of the Obamacare subsidies, an issue they catapulted to the top of the national agenda when they made it a key demand during the recent government shutdown.
They plan to run a scorched-earth political campaign excoriating Trump and Republicans for failing to assist American consumers when they passed massive tax cuts for the wealthy and cuts to Medicaid in their One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Photo caption: Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) criticized House Republican leadership on expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies during a speech on the House floor Dec. 16, 2025.
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©2025 New York Daily News. Visit nydailynews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency LLC.
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