Congressional Republicans are weighing what to do about the expiring credits, with House Republicans discussing at least one avenue being a short-term extension of the subsidies, according to a source familiar with the matter.

How long that extension would be remains unclear, and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) batted down the idea that Republicans are committed to a short-term patch for the credits in comments to reporters.

However, four longtime Trumpworld figures told the Washington Examiner that, despite GOP criticisms of Obamacare, Trump is likely to agree to a short-term fix rather than risk the political blowback ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

“No one actually wants to save Obamacare,” a former top Trump White House aide explained. “It’s been an absolute disaster, and there’s no chance in hell we’ll be able to come up with a full-on replacement that the Dems will agree to. It feels like a bit of a poison pill, but I think a temporary extension, which then allows time for the president to fully vet an alternative, is the least painful way forward here.”

A veteran Republican operative who worked on all three Trump presidential campaigns claimed not to have spoken to the White House legislative affairs team about the president’s current position but predicted it will put forward a “patch” in time to extend the subsidies.

“I think what you’re seeing is the president reviewing options, doing his due diligence,” added a Republican healthcare lobbyist who worked at the Department of Health and Human Services during Trump’s first term. “There’s still time left to figure this out. The last thing he should be doing is rushing into another Obamacare-like mess, just because the Democrats are saying, ‘You have to do it our way.’”

Before Thanksgiving, the White House was expected to unveil a framework for a temporary two-year extension of the expiring credits before pulling the plug on the plan. Trump further muddied the waters while traveling to Florida last Tuesday evening.

“Somebody said I want to extend it for two years. I don’t want to extend it for two years. I’d rather not extend them at all,” he said on Air Force One before conceding that “some kind of an extension may be necessary” to bail out the “un-Affordable Care Act.”

Kevin Hassett, the director of Trump’s National Economic Council, additionally told CBS on Sunday that the White House’s leaked extension proposal was “predecisional” and that senior aides walked it back “because it hadn’t been through the whole process.”

“President Trump has been clear that he’s very concerned about the cost of healthcare,” he said. “What we’re going to see now, between now and Christmas, is that people are going to work this out, because we have a solution.”

Senior White House officials declined to elaborate on the “solution” that Hassett mentioned, instead reiterating that Trump’s team is continuing to work toward a viable healthcare solution.

Though some congressional Republicans have backed extending the expiring subsidies, such as Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), and Thom Tillis (R-NC), Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) declined to nail down timing on a vote, adding Monday that neither the Democratic nor Republican proposals have the necessary votes to pass the chamber.

“We’ll see what the Dems want to put up,” Thune told Politico. “There’s obviously something that we could put up as a side-by-side, neither of which would probably get 60 [votes to advance], but I think in the end you would like to see if there’s a path forward on something that could merge.”

A senior GOP congressional aide told the Washington Examiner that the chance a Senate-originated proposal also passes the House is “slim to none, at least not without POTUS giving the go-ahead.”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) accused Johnson on Monday of specifically sabotaging the negotiating process, despite Republicans “consistently” promising in October to vote to address the expiring subsidies if Democrats agreed to end the government shutdown.

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“It even appears that the Trump administration was ready to put forth a plan that would at least have been worthy of consideration, and that Mike Johnson tanked it,” Jeffries said at a Monday afternoon press conference. “Obviously, Mike Johnson has zero interest in protecting the healthcare of the American people.”

A spokesman for Johnson said in a statement that Jeffries and Democrats “are once again fabricating a narrative and misrepresenting the Speaker’s position,” adding that Johnson “welcomes President Trump’s efforts to lower health care costs, and any White House input is a meaningful contribution to the thoughtful, deliberative conversations taking place in Congress.”

Lauren Green contributed to this report.