{"id":63857,"date":"2025-12-18T01:02:17","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T01:02:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/63857\/"},"modified":"2025-12-18T01:02:17","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T01:02:17","slug":"pennsylvania-republicans-who-defied-mike-johnson-on-aca-subsidies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/63857\/","title":{"rendered":"Pennsylvania Republicans who defied Mike Johnson on ACA subsidies"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tFour moderate House Republicans \u2014 from swing districts Democrats are already eyeing for next year\u2019s midterms \u2014 have broken ranks with Speaker Mike Johnson, signing on to Democrats\u2019 petition to force a vote on extending health care subsidies that expire at the end of this year.From battleground districts in Pennsylvania and New York, the members on Wednesday sided against their party on the Democratic-led measure to force a vote on subsidy extensions related to Affordable Care Act \u2014 a move that came after House Republican leaders pushed ahead with a GOP health care bill that does not address impending soaring monthly premiums.Acknowledging \u201cthese are not normal times,\u201d Johnson said his party\u2019s razor-thin majority allows a small number of GOP members to have an outsize influence in some of the chamber\u2019s mechanics.Meet the four Republicans bucking their party\u2019s leadership over health care:Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, PennsylvaniaFitzpatrick, who has been part of several bipartisan pushes this year, represents a perennial swing district in the presidential battleground state. Amassing bipartisan signatures for his own discharge petition related to ACA subsidy extension, earlier this year he was part of a coalition that spanned the political spectrum to rally support for a bill that would prohibit members of Congress and their families from owning and trading individual stocks.\u201cIt\u2019s not every day you see this cast of characters up here,\u201d Fitzpatrick said. \u201cYou\u2019re all smirking out there. That\u2019s a good thing. It speaks to the power of this cause.\u201dRep. Ryan Mackenzie, PennsylvaniaMackenzie drew an opponent barely 48 hours after voting for the House budget bill earlier this year. Part of a bipartisan group pressing for an eleventh-hour compromise over the ACA subsidies, Mackenzie told The Associated Press earlier this month that lawmakers needed to understand that, \u201ceven if you have a broken system, that doesn\u2019t mean that you shouldn\u2019t provide or offer relief to individuals who are dealing with those high costs right now.\u201dRep. Robert Bresnahan, PennsylvaniaBresnahan and Mackenzie, both freshmen, won in November by some of the smallest margins in all of Congress. Already a top target for Democrats in next year\u2019s midterms, Bresnahan and his district have already had high-level political attention. Last week, President Donald Trump was in his district for an official White House event that seemed more like one of his signature campaign rallies that officials said he would hold regularly ahead of next year\u2019s midterms.Rep. Mike Lawler, New YorkLawler\u2019s district has been considered a crucial swing seat in recent elections, and Democrats are expected to again dedicate heavy resources to flip it next year. A moderate who last year won a second term, he openly expressed interest in running for governor but backed off those plans, saying he wanted to defend his battleground district.Earlier this year, while many House Republicans shunned holding town halls in their districts as the Trump administration\u2019s aggressive actions roiled constituents, Lawler instead sought to put himself in front of voters, who peppered him with questions and devolved into a chaotic chorus of boos.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Four moderate House Republicans \u2014 from swing districts Democrats are already eyeing for next year\u2019s midterms \u2014 have broken ranks with Speaker Mike Johnson, signing on to Democrats\u2019 petition to force a vote<\/a> on extending health care subsidies that expire at the end of this year.<\/p>\n

From battleground districts in Pennsylvania and New York, the members on Wednesday sided against their party on the Democratic-led measure to force a vote on subsidy extensions related to Affordable Care Act \u2014 a move that came after House Republican leaders pushed ahead with a GOP health care bill<\/a> that does not address impending soaring monthly premiums<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Acknowledging \u201cthese are not normal times,\u201d Johnson said his party\u2019s razor-thin majority allows a small number of GOP members to have an outsize influence in some of the chamber\u2019s mechanics.<\/p>\n

Meet the four Republicans bucking their party\u2019s leadership over health care:<\/p>\n

Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, Pennsylvania<\/p>\n

Fitzpatrick, who has been part of several bipartisan pushes this year, represents a perennial swing district in the presidential battleground state. Amassing bipartisan signatures for his own discharge petition related to ACA subsidy extension, earlier this year he was part of a coalition<\/a> that spanned the political spectrum to rally support for a bill that would prohibit members of Congress and their families from owning and trading individual stocks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not every day you see this cast of characters up here,\u201d Fitzpatrick said. \u201cYou\u2019re all smirking out there. That\u2019s a good thing. It speaks to the power of this cause.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\"Rep.<\/p>\n

\n\t\tAnna Moneymaker\/Getty Images\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRep. Brian Fitzpatrick, Pennsylvania<\/p>\n

Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, Pennsylvania<\/p>\n

Mackenzie drew an opponent barely 48 hours after voting for the House budget bill earlier this year. <\/p>\n

Part of a bipartisan group pressing for an eleventh-hour compromise over the ACA subsidies, Mackenzie told The Associated Press<\/a> earlier this month that lawmakers needed to understand that, \u201ceven if you have a broken system, that doesn\u2019t mean that you shouldn\u2019t provide or offer relief to individuals who are dealing with those high costs right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\"Rep.<\/p>\n

\n\t\tBill Clark\/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRep. Ryan Mackenzie, Pennsylvania<\/p>\n

Rep. Robert Bresnahan, Pennsylvania<\/p>\n

Bresnahan and Mackenzie, both freshmen, won in November by some of the smallest margins in all of Congress. Already a top target for Democrats in next year\u2019s midterms, Bresnahan and his district have already had high-level political attention. <\/p>\n

Last week, President Donald Trump was in his district for an official White House event<\/a> that seemed more like one of his signature campaign rallies that officials said he would hold regularly ahead of next year\u2019s midterms.<\/p>\n

\t\t\"MOUNTAIN<\/p>\n

\n\t\tAimee Dilger\/SOPA Images\/LightRocket via Getty Images\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRep. Robert Bresnahan, Pennsylvania<\/p>\n

Rep. Mike Lawler, New York<\/p>\n

Lawler\u2019s district has been considered a crucial swing seat in recent elections, and Democrats are expected to again dedicate heavy resources to flip it next year. A moderate who last year won a second term, he openly expressed interest in running for governor but backed off those plans, saying he wanted to defend his battleground district.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, while many House Republicans shunned holding town halls in their districts as the Trump administration\u2019s aggressive actions roiled constituents, Lawler instead sought to put himself in front of voters, who peppered him with questions and devolved into a chaotic chorus of boos.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Four moderate House Republicans \u2014 from swing districts Democrats are already eyeing for next year\u2019s midterms \u2014 have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":63858,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[19352,34138,5892,34137,32545,7097,2258,3831,34141,2263,24888,16414,34139,17669,34142,14097,6016,7029,28,30,29,34140,34136,1582,28053,78],"class_list":{"0":"post-63857","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pennsylvania","8":"tag-aca","9":"tag-aca-subsidy","10":"tag-affordable-care-act","11":"tag-battleground-district","12":"tag-brian-fitzpatrick","13":"tag-congress","14":"tag-democrats","15":"tag-health-care","16":"tag-health-care-subsidy","17":"tag-insurance","18":"tag-mackenzie","19":"tag-member","20":"tag-midterm","21":"tag-mike-johnson","22":"tag-moderate-house-republicans","23":"tag-next-year","24":"tag-part","25":"tag-party","26":"tag-pennsylvania","27":"tag-pennsylvania-headlines","28":"tag-pennsylvania-news","29":"tag-pennsylvania-republicans","30":"tag-robert-bresnahan","31":"tag-ryan-mackenzie","32":"tag-subsidies","33":"tag-year"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63857","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63857"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63857\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}