In 2021 and 2022, congressional Democrats enacted some very large additional subsidies for the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, and those so-called enhanced subsidies are set to expire this month.
While Republicans have long opposed Obamacare, more than 20 million Americans get their insurance through the program, and Republicans are now scrambling to do something rather than simply let the additional subsidies lapse.
On Thursday, the Senate voted to advance two bills, one sponsored by Democrats and the other sponsored by Republicans, and each bill got 51 votes, short of the 60-vote hurdle in the upper chamber.
The Democratic bill would extend the expiring laws they passed on party-line votes in 2021 and 2022, while the bill sponsored by Republicans would aid people with Obamacare plans primarily by depositing federal dollars into Health Savings Accounts.
While Republicans are willing to provide some additional support for Americans with Obamacare plans—beyond the subsidies provided under the original terms of the law—they want to spend less than Democrats, direct dollars to individual accounts rather than insurers, and not provide funding for elective abortions.
How this issue is resolved remains anyone’s guess. If Congress doesn’t come to an agreement before enhanced subsidies lapse at the end of December, the fight over Obamacare could be at the center of another shutdown fight when funding for the government runs out at the end of January.
Top Stories From the Dispatch Politics Team
The fact that Republicans are now willing to provide even more support to Obamacare beneficiaries than required under the original terms of the 2010 law underscores just how defeated the party is on the issue of health care. Long gone are the days of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s vow to defund Obamacare in 2013 and Trump’s 2016 promises (along with other GOP presidential candidates) to repeal and replace the entitlement. At the same time, the pressure for even more subsidies than provided for in the original law reveals the Affordable Care Act has not lived up to its promise to make health care more affordable.
White House chief of staff Susie Wiles has revealed plans to deploy President Donald Trump across the country next year to juice Republican turnout and swamp any blue wave that might materialize in midterm elections. The GOP reaction is decidedly mixed. As House Democrats gleefully discovered as the 2018 cycle progressed, the more Trump traveled—and the more campaign coverage revolved around the president—the brighter their prospects became in swing districts and other highly competitive seats that ultimately determined the majority.
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is tasked with helping the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention develop vaccine recommendations based on the best data and medical science and informed by leading vaccine and infectious disease researchers and doctors. Or at least, that’s what the committee is supposed to do. The committee met last week for the third time since Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired its previous members and packed the panel with allies, skeptics, and openly anti-vaccine advocates. Past ACIP convenings featured structured and dispassionate discussions of the vaccine schedule. Their recommendations are always consequential, but their meetings were typically jargony and boring. This meeting was different—and made explicit what was already becoming apparent: The iconoclasts are in charge and pursuing a campaign against public health guidance, as such.
Given the second Trump administration’s energetic activity in realms of law enforcement, the military, and immigration, we’ve witnessed quite a bit of live-action-role-playing in the field. There’s Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s well-documented workouts with the troops, which have earned him the sobriquet, “the influencer secretary.” In September, Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, participated in a training session with the Army special forces. (Gabbard is a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve.) It may have all started with Kristi Noem. Back in February, the secretary of homeland security patrolled the southern border on horseback with Border Patrol agents. Later that spring she began joining Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers on their raids across the country, wearing protective gear and sometimes wielding her own firearm.
Enjoying our Dispatch Politics Roundup? Consider forwarding this article to someone you know who likes independent, fact-based journalism.
