{"id":2517978,"date":"2025-12-05T12:01:02","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T17:01:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/house-gopers-surrender-on-obamacare-fight\/"},"modified":"2025-12-05T12:01:52","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T17:01:52","slug":"house-gopers-surrender-on-obamacare-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/house-gopers-surrender-on-obamacare-fight\/","title":{"rendered":"House GOPers Surrender On Obamacare Fight"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">12<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fhouse-gopers-surrender-on-obamacare-fight%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2517978&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The article discusses a recent bipartisan proposal by nearly three dozen Democrats and Republicans to extend taxpayer-funded Obamacare subsidies, which are set to expire at the end of the year. Spearheaded by Representatives Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and jen Kiggins (R-VA), the plan aims to extend and gradually reform the subsidies through a two-step congressional vote. Despite criticisms from some conservatives-and an unconvincing defense by Republican-turned-Democrat Jeff Van Drew, who acknowledged the Affordable Care Act&#8217;s flaws but stressed the need for a &#8220;bridge&#8221; to maintain coverage-the proposal appears unlikely to advance, with key GOP leaders opposing it. The piece criticizes House Republicans for lacking a clear plan to repeal or replace Obamacare after 15 years of campaigning against it, suggesting the party has no cohesive vision for healthcare reform or governance. The author highlights a disconnect between public statements praising Congress&#8217;s productivity and the perceived failure to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/austin-city-council-backs-resolution-to-consider-raising-age-to-purchase-ar-15-style-rifles\/\" title=\"Austin City Council Backs Resolution To Consider Raising Age To Purchase AR-15-Style Rifles\">enact meaningful change<\/a>.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>After successfully holding strong in the face of a Democrat-led government shutdown over Obamacare, a cabal of House Republicans is now waiving the white flag on the issue.<\/p>\n<p>On Thursday, nearly three dozen Democrats and Republicans <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/12\/04\/us\/politics\/obamacare-aca-subsidies-house-congress.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">introduced<\/a> a proposal to extend taxpayer-funded Obamacare subsidies. As Federalist Senior Contributor Christopher Jacobs <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/10\/14\/2025-budget-review-shows-we-cant-afford-to-extend-temporary-obamacare-subsidies\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">has<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/10\/30\/6-reasons-congress-should-let-the-enhanced-obamacare-subsidies-expire\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">regularly<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/11\/05\/democrats-want-republicans-to-bail-them-out-of-their-bad-political-gamble\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reported<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/11\/12\/republicans-tempted-to-bail-out-obamacare-should-remember-democrats-shutdown-implosion-and-just-say-no\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">in<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/11\/18\/on-obamacare-are-democrats-trying-to-make-a-law-or-just-a-political-point\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">these<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/12\/02\/extending-obamacare-covid-subsidies-will-result-in-employers-dropping-insurance-coverage\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">pages<\/a>, these <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/10\/08\/no-obamacare-premiums-are-not-doubling\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Biden-era subsidies<\/a> &mdash; which are set to expire at the end of this year &mdash; have been a complete and total disaster. <\/p>\n<p>Spearheaded by Reps. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., and Jen Kiggins, R-Va., the measure &ldquo;would extend and reduce the tax credits in a two-step process, requiring two separate votes by Congress,&rdquo; according to The New York Times. While the first vote &ldquo;would extend the tax credits for a year with some modifications, including the addition of a new income limit,&rdquo; the second vote &ldquo;would implement what the group described as &lsquo;more significant reforms,&rsquo; <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >including potentially eliminating including potentially eliminating $0 premiums premiums<\/a>, with exceptions for need-based support.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>During a press conference introducing the proposal, Democrat-turned-Republican Jeff Van Drew laid out his best case for forcing taxpayers to keep bankrolling this broken system. The New Jersey congressman&rsquo;s explanation as a self-declared &ldquo;conservative&rdquo; was (naturally) unconvincing. <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I do not like the Affordable Care Act. &hellip; And it&rsquo;s fraught with all kinds of problems, there&rsquo;s a lot of corruption &hellip; But that&rsquo;s not the point today, and that&rsquo;s not the discussion for today,&rdquo; Van Drew said. These subsidies haven&rsquo;t &ldquo;been good. But ladies and gentlemen, we have a responsibility. &hellip; So, I believe that we have two responsibilities. One, to have a bridge for the American people &hellip; that would allow them to keep their health insurance. I think the second responsibility we have is to do much, much better with health care.&rdquo; <\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><span><\/p>\n<blockquote data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<div lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\n<p>In just 28 days, the ACA subsidies expire.<\/p>\n<p>The tax credits need to be reformed, no question about that.<\/p>\n<p>But we need to extend them now so Americans stay covered while we work on a real fix to this broken system. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/xhZ9yuGBBK\">pic.twitter.com\/xhZ9yuGBBK<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&mdash; Congressman Jeff Van Drew (@Congressman_JVD) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Congressman_JVD\/status\/1996626546472505747?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 4, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><\/span> <\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>If you&rsquo;re left wondering what should happen at the end of the next proposed subsidy extension, you&rsquo;re not alone. As my colleague Eddie Scarry <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/eScarry\/status\/1996948359072899205?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">observed<\/a> in response to Van Drew&rsquo;s comments, &ldquo;So you&rsquo;re creating a &lsquo;bridge&rsquo; by extending the subsidies but you have no plan for what happens when that extension again runs out? Literally a bridge to nowhere. Laughable.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps the richest part of Van Drew&rsquo;s remarks, however, is the part in which he whined about wishing lawmakers could&rsquo;ve been working on health care rather than having &ldquo;43 days off&rdquo; because of the government shutdown. <\/p>\n<p>Forty-three days? What about the <em>15 years<\/em> Republicans have spent campaigning on &ldquo;repealing and replacing&rdquo; Obamacare? It&rsquo;s 2025, and the GOP <em>still<\/em> doesn&rsquo;t have a plan to revoke the disastrous law and institute a market-oriented solution that fosters competition and naturally drives down costs. <\/p>\n<p>Fortunately, the Gottheimer-Kiggins proposal seems unlikely to make any significant headway, with House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., <a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/policy\/healthcare\/5633614-republican-health-bill-johnson-scalise\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">shooting down<\/a> the idea on Thursday. (House Republican leadership is <a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/policy\/healthcare\/5633614-republican-health-bill-johnson-scalise\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reportedly<\/a> expected to introduce its own health care package sometime next week, although it&rsquo;s currently unknown if that proposal will include any extension of the Obamacare subsidies.)<\/p>\n<p>But whether or not the &ldquo;bipartisan&rdquo; proposal passes is beside the point. That a group of Republicans would take it upon themselves to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory and hand Democrats exactly what they&rsquo;ve been wanting is a disgrace. <\/p>\n<p>Then again, it&rsquo;s not shocking when considering that the Republican Party has no ability or interest in governing and <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/11\/24\/what-does-the-republican-party-even-stand-for\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">no collective vision<\/a> for what success for the country looks like. By every measure, it&rsquo;s more useless than that raccoon that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/lifestyle\/raccoon-breaks-liquor-store-passes-out-bathroom-booze-fueled-rampage\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">broke into<\/a> an ABC store, got drunk, and passed out on the bathroom floor.<\/p>\n<p>But according to House Speaker Mike Johnson, everything is just hunky dory. The Louisiana Republican recently <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/watch\/?v=26116109158020067\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">claimed<\/a> that the current GOP-run Congress is &ldquo;the most productive and consequential Congress in our lifetime.&rdquo; <\/p>\n<p>If by &ldquo;most productive and consequential,&rdquo; he means squandering a rare opportunity to enact real and significant change for the American people, then he&rsquo;s absolutely right. <\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/exclusive-american-freedom-convoy-set-to-launch-on-march-1\/\" title=\"Exclusive: \u2018American Freedom Convoy\u2019 ... To Launch On March 1\">state content writer<\/a> for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>House Republicans surrender, back extending Obamacare subsidies<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":539,"featured_media":2517979,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Jeff-Van-Drew.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[37167,32455,68309,12589,53048],"class_list":["post-2517978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-healthcare-policy","tag-house-gop","tag-legislative-battle","tag-obamacare","tag-political-compromise"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Jeff-Van-Drew.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2517978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/539"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2517978"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2517978\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2517982,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2517978\/revisions\/2517982"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2517979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2517978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2517978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2517978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}