WASHINGTON – Republican Hudson Valley Congressman Michael Lawler (R, NY-17) Wednesday sided with Democrats by signing onto a Democratic-led petition forcing a vote in the House of Representatives on extending for three years an enhanced pandemic-era subsidy that lowers health insurance costs for millions of Americans.
Lawler whose 17th Congressional District encompasses all of Putnam and Rockland counties in addition to sections of Dutchess and Westchester, joined with three other Republican congressmen from Pennsylvania forcing the issue led by Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, to vote on a bill that would extend the subsides for three years. A vote on that subsidy bill could come as soon as January under House rules.
Lawler said, “the failure of leadership” to permit a vote had left him with “no choice” but to sign the petition. He urged Speaker Mike Johnson to bring the plan up for an immediate floor vote.
House Republican leaders are pushing ahead with a health care bill that does not address the soaring monthly premiums that millions of people will soon endure when the tax credits for those who buy insurance through the Affordable Care Act expire at year’s end. The action sets the stage for a renewed intra-party clash over health care in January, something Republican leaders had been working to avoid, just weeks before another government funding deadline at the end of that month.
Earlier, an infuriated Mike Lawler left a closed-door House Republican meeting and sounded off on GOP leaders planning to allow Obamacare subsidies to expire in two weeks charging: “This is absolute bullshit.”
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