House Passes 3-Year Extension of Obamacare Subsidies

Reuters
By Yuval Rosenberg and Michael Rainey

Good Thursday evening. Tensions remain high in Minnesota as protests continue over the killing of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good. Emotions are running hot in Washington, D.C., too, as the Senate today delivered a rare - albeit largely symbolic - rebuke of President Trump's use of military force in Venezuela, highlighting some fractures in the GOP. The House, meanwhile, approved a three-year renewal of enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies and passed a bipartisan package of three annual funding bills. Here's what you should know.

House Passes 3-Year Extension of Obamacare Subsidies

The House on Thursday approved a bill that would provide a three-year extension of enhanced subsidies for healthcare plans sold under the Affordable Care Act, overcoming resistance from Republican leaders who sought to avoid taking up the measure.

The final vote was 230 to 196, with all Democrats and 17 Republicans supporting the legislation. Many of the Republicans backing the bill are from closely divided districts, and their votes come amid worries that soaring insurance costs could contribute to major GOP losses in the midterm elections this fall.

The enhanced subsidies, which expired at the end of 2025, helped spark the longest government shutdown ever late last year, as Democrats pushed to renew the tax credits and prevent a spike in out-of-pocket costs for millions of Americans.

Thursday's vote came after nine Republican representatives joined with Democrats on Wednesday to advance the legislation onto the House floor. In December, four swing-district Republicans helped the discharge petition secure the 218 signatures needed to sidestep House Speaker Mike Johnson and set up the floor action this week.

According to an analysis by the Congressional Budget Office, the three-year extension of the ACA subsidies would increase the number of people with health insurance by 4 million in 2028, at a budgetary cost of about $80.6 billion over 10 years.

Senate eyes a fix: The Senate rejected a three-year extension of the ACA subsidies last month, and the House bill is not expected to be treated any differently, but a bipartisan group of senators has been discussing a plan that could conceivably pass the upper chamber.

The bipartisan deal would reportedly include a two-year extension of the ACA subsidies, with assistance capped for households with incomes above 700% of the federal poverty level. All participants would be required to pay a minimum of $5 per month for their coverage, and the legislation could create an option for participants to receive subsidies directly in health savings accounts in the second year.

One issue that remains unresolved revolves around the Hyde Amendment, which bans the use of federal funds for abortions, and its applicability to direct federal subsidies for healthcare.

Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno said Wednesday that the bipartisan group is in the "red zone," using a football term to indicate that they were getting close to reaching a deal. "But that does not mean a touchdown," he added. "It could mean a 95-yard fumble."

House Passes Package of Three Annual Spending Bills

The House on Thursday passed a bipartisan package of three annual funding bills, taking another step toward funding federal agencies ahead of a January 30 shutdown deadline.

The bills would provide funding through September 30 for the departments of Commerce, Energy, Interior and Justice as well as the Environmental Protection Agency and federal water development and science programs.

The vote came after the package ran into opposition from conservative Republicans, who objected to earmarks in the legislation, most notably a $1 million allocation for a Somali community organization in the district of Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota. The deal to resolve those objections saw the Omar earmark removed, with House leaders promising GOP hardliners more visibility into earmarks in upcoming funding measures.

"Going forward, we're going to be allowed a little more access to the bills and the ability to have an impact on them in the future," Rep. Andy Harris, chair of the House Freedom Caucus, told reporters.

The deal to advance the three-bill "minibus" also involved splitting the package into two separate votes, which allowed the hardliners to formally register their opposition to elements of the Commerce-Justice-Science bill.

Once the two parts of the package advanced, the combined bills were passed in a 397-28 vote, sending them to the Senate, where a vote could come as soon as next week.

The bottom line: Congress has only passed three of the 12 required annual spending bills so far. This latest package would double the total once it clears the Senate. But the path ahead is likely to be rockier, particularly for the big bills covering Defense and Labor, Health and Human Services and Education. Congress may need to pass another stopgap spending bill to avoid a partial shutdown, but Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the top Democratic appropriator in the House, reportedly said Tuesday that she is confident that a new continuing resolution won't be needed.

Senate Advances Resolution to Limit Trump on Venezuela

The Senate on Thursday signaled its concern over President Trump's military incursion into Venezuela and his threats of additional actions to exert U.S. dominance in the Western Hemisphere.

In a 52-47 vote, the Senate advanced a resolution requiring Trump to get congressional approval for any additional military action in Venezuela. Five Republicans - Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Josh Hawley of Missouri, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Todd Young of Indiana - voted with Democrats in support of the measure, setting up a vote next week on final passage.

The measure is a symbolic rebuke of Trump after he greenlit a U.S. attack over the weekend to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro but did not inform Congress before the extraordinary raid.

The resolution has no realistic chance of becoming law because Trump would have to sign it if it manages to get through the Republican-led House. That did not stop the president from blasting the Republican senators who voted to constrain his power. He argued that the War Powers Act is unconstitutional and that the Senate vote "greatly hampers" national security.

"Republicans should be ashamed of the Senators that just voted with Democrats in attempting to take away our Powers to fight and defend the United States of America," he wrote in a social media post. "Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Rand Paul, Josh Hawley, and Todd Young should never be elected to office again."

House Republicans stand with Trump: While the Senate was signaling its disapproval of the president, House Republicans on Thursday opted against undercutting Trump in two votes to override his vetoes of bills that had passed both the House and Senate unanimously.

Trump vetoed both bills - his first vetoes of his second term - for political reasons. One bill would have provided support for the Miccosukee Tribe in Florida, which has criticized the Trump administration's "Alligator Alcatraz" detention center. The other bill involved financing for a Colorado water pipeline project in the district of Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert, who had crossed Trump by signing a discharge petition calling for the release of the Epstein files.

On Thursday, neither measure reached the two-thirds majority required to override a veto as Republicans largely fell in line behind Trump.

Number of the Day: $200 Billion

President Trump said in a social media post that he wants the government to buy $200 billion in mortgage bonds to help lower interest rates. The announcement comes as Trump and the White House have tried to respond to affordability concerns and worries that they have not focused enough on the economy ahead of this year's midterm elections

Trump on Wednesday said he wants to ban large institutional investors from buying up single-family homes, a move that some housing experts said would have little effect. "This will not fix housing affordability. It may boost single-family purchases, but it will come at the cost of reducing single-family rentals," Jaret Seiberg, an analyst at TD Cowen, reportedly wrote in a note to clients.

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