Senate Republicans plan to counter a Democratic-led vote on expiring Obamacare subsidies with a healthcare proposal of their own, marking a shift in strategy as the GOP debates how best to challenge Democrats on affordability.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) was expected to skip a competing vote, with the party divided over the best legislation to present as an alternative, but ultimately decided to move ahead after discussing the vote at their daily conference lunch and increasing pressure from rank-and-file members.
“We will have an alternative that we will put up that reflects the views of the Republicans here in the United States Senate about how to make health insurance more affordable in this country, how to ensure that it’s not the insurance companies that are getting enriched but that it’s actually benefiting the patient, and how to make sure this is a good deal for American taxpayers,” Thune told reporters on Tuesday.
As part of a bipartisan deal last month to end the government shutdown, Thune agreed to let Democrats bring forward a bill to extend the premium credits offered under Obamacare, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) ultimately settling on a three-year extension. Republicans, meanwhile, plan to offer a proposal from Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Mike Crapo (R-ID), the chairmen of the health and finance committees, respectively.
Rather than extend the pandemic-era subsidies, which Republicans say are rife with fraud and mask the underlying costs of healthcare, the Cassidy-Crapo legislation would provide money to qualifying recipients for health savings accounts. Only those with bronze and catastrophic marketplace insurance plans and those earning less than 700% of the poverty level would qualify. Those aged 18-49 would receive $1,000 annually for an HSA, and those 50-65 would receive $1,500.
On Tuesday, Schumer condemned the plan as a “phony proposal” equivalent to “junk insurance” and insisted the Democratic extension was the “only realistic” avenue to preventing millions of people from facing out-of-pocket premium increases starting Jan. 1, 2026.
Neither healthcare bill is expected to garner the 60 votes needed to advance, but the legislation will offer both sides a messaging opportunity ahead of the midterm elections.
“We don’t see this as a law-making exercise,” Thune said of Democrats’ proposal. “The Democrats clearly don’t, which is why they’re putting up what is a show vote.”
Had they declined to challenge Democrats’ vote, Republicans risked the appearance of not caring about healthcare costs, but putting forward a counterproposal also has its downsides given it could divide the conference. Thune would not promise full GOP unity but predicted Republicans will “for the most part” support the Cassidy-Crapo bill.
Rank-and-file Senate Republicans were increasingly anxious about the prospect of not rallying behind a measure of their own.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), prior to Thune’s announcement, left the door open to voting with Democrats and said it would be “leadership malpractice” not to propose an alternative. Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) estimated there were at least 10 Republicans privately calling for a vote.
“We got to have something to vote on,” said Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), who’s running for Alabama governor.
Congress is in its final working days of the year, with the dueling healthcare votes on Thursday set to occur one week before the Senate departs for the Christmas recess. There remains optimism among some senators that bipartisan negotiations could restart in the new year, even after the higher out-of-pocket premiums take effect.
Senate Republicans have unveiled a half-dozen proposals and counting, including the Cassidy-Crapo measure. But a major sticking point with Democrats remains conservative demands to expand abortion restrictions under Obamacare using so-called Hyde Amendment language. Schumer reaffirmed that any Hyde provisions are “off the table” for Democrats and that Republicans “know it damn well.”
“They’re in charge, not us. They’re in charge of putting together the votes to pass something,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) said. “Their chaos is pretty apparent in that they have no single proposal to rally around. They are all dropping individual proposals with weeks to go before the subsidies skyrocket. They’re a total mess.”
THUNE EYES POSSIBILITY OF ‘SERIOUS’ OBAMACARE TALKS ONCE DEMOCRATIC BILL FAILS
While Democrats are expected to vote in unison for their bill, not everyone is happy about it. Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), a centrist who frequently bucks his party, accused Democrats of putting forward a proposal “designed to fail” and said they should have instead pushed for a one-year extension that could draw bipartisan backing.
“I don’t like votes that are designed to fail when it really should be about delivering healthcare for people,” Fetterman said.
