Nearly 20 Republicans rebel against Johnson and Trump

I have written for months that healthcare was going to be a problem for the GOP if they did not come up with an alternative plan.

I had even suggested doing a one-year clean extension of the current subsidies and immediately starting to work on an alternative.

It all fell on deaf ears, however, and now a large group of Republicans is rebelling, voting with Democrats to give a three-year extension of the subsidies.

Not Serious

Sadly, there were no real solutions by the GOP, other than the silly suggestion of sending out the money to taxpayers.

There would be two likely outcomes to that. The first is that the insurance companies would still be getting the money. And the second is that people would spend the money on something else and still not have coverage.

When the GOP finally put something on the floor, it was mocked by Rep. Scott Peters (D-CA), who stated, “I voted no on this unserious GOP health care plan because it won’t actually solve the real health care affordability crisis families across America confront.

“More than 20 million Americans rely on ACA premium tax credits to cover their health care costs, yet House Republicans propose a bill that ignores that reality instead of preventing these life-saving credits from expiring.”

Forcing the Vote

Back in December 2025, the signs were there that moderate Republicans in the House were going to break over this.

Four House members ended up backing a petition by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) to put a three-year extension on the floor.

Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Robert Bresnahan (R-PA, Ryan Mackenzie (R-PA), and Mike Lawler R-NY) rocked the boat, defying Speaker Johnson (R-LA).

Little did Johnson realize at the time that this was only going to get worse for him.

Breaking Ranks

This week, that legislation was put on the floor, and it passed easily with a 230-196 vote, with nearly two dozen Republicans crossing over.

Now, this still needs to get past the Senate, which is unlikely, but you just never know these days because of how many people are trying to protect their seats for 2026. Then it will have to get signed by Trump, which is still unlikely.

And if Trump vetoes the bill, and people continue to get clobbered with rising healthcare costs, and God forbid we have a bad flu season, and people do not have coverage, the situation for the GOP in 2026 and 2028 will not be good.

I still believe that since the GOP had not come up with a real plan, the best course of action was to extend for one year, get through the 2026 election, and present a new plan to replace Obamacare before the end of 2026. Instead, they sat on their hands and postured, and conservatives are now facing a legitimate crisis in terms of holding on to power.