By: Jennifer Shutt, The Arkansas Advocate
WASHINGTON Arkansas Congressmen opposed the now approved U.S. House bipartisan bill Thursday to resurrect the enhanced tax credits that expired at the end of last year for people who purchase their health insurance from the Affordable Care Act marketplace.
The 230-196 vote sends the legislation to the Senate, where Republican leadership is unlikely to put it on the floor without considerable changes, which a bipartisan group of senators appears close to finalizing. Seventeen Republicans voted with every Democrat to pass the bill. Arkansas’ Republican Congressmen Rick Crawford, Steve Womack, French Hill and Bruce Westerman all voted against the bill.
House GOP leaders didnt want to bring the bill up in their chamber, but a handful of their own members signed a discharge petition in December, forcing the vote amid rising health care costs.
Massachusetts Democratic Rep. Jim McGovern said during floor debate on Wednesday evening “its about damn time” the chamber took up a bill to address the now-expired tax credits, arguing lawmakers have a “moral obligation to act” to help people afford health insurance.
“This Congress musters up the will to spend trillions of dollars on tax breaks for billionaires and to send the Pentagon billions of dollars more than they even asked for. And the administration came up with tens of billions of dollars to bail out Argentina, for Gods sake,” McGovern said. “But somehow helping moms and dads, grandparents and kids afford trips to the doctor is a step too far for this Republican leadership.”
New York GOP Rep. Mike Lawler said he only backed the bill after Republican leaders declined to bring up a bipartisan two-year compromise bill he helped negotiate last year.
“I am voting in favor of this discharge and of this legislation to send it to the Senate so that the Senate will have the opportunity to put forth a reform package that can pass Congress and become law,” Lawler said.
Republicans and Democrats, he said, agree that the countrys health care system is in need of a serious overhaul. He called on his colleagues to find solutions to the bigger, more structural issues.
“Enough of the blame game on both sides,” Lawler said. “Lets focus on actually delivering affordable health care for Americans.”
Prolonged fight over ACA tax credits
Democrats originally established the enhanced ACA marketplace tax credits during the coronavirus pandemic in an attempt to get more people health insurance coverage. They set the subsidies to expire at the end of 2025.
The debate over the sunset date simmered in the background for much of last year but surged to the forefront in October after Democrats shut down the government and repeatedly demanded GOP leaders negotiate an extension to the expiring enhanced tax credits.
The shutdown ended in mid-November after Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., agreed to give Democrats a vote on a health care bill of their choosing in December.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., ultimately decided to bring up a three-year extension of the enhanced tax credits without any changes, but it failed to get the 60 votes needed to advance.
A proposal from Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy and Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo, both Republicans, that would have provided funding through Health Savings Accounts for some ACA marketplace enrollees during 2026 and 2027 also failed to move toward final passage.
A House Republican health care bill passed that chamber last month, but doesnt have the bipartisan support to move through the Senate and become law.
Senate problems
Thune said Tuesday any renewal of the enhanced ACA marketplace subsidies would need reforms to move through that chamber.
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