It was always going to end this way.
Speaker Mike Johnson shut down the House for nearly two months to prevent any possible deal on restoring Obamacare subsidies. This same person is firmly committed to increasing health insurance costs on the American people, so of course, Johnson was going to not keep his promise to allow a House vote on restoring the subsidies.
The original Republican plan was to propose their own healthcare bill and offer a vote on extending the ACA subsidies, so that moderate House Republicans would have a chance to vote to extend them, which would, in theory, help them campaign for reelection in their home districts.
Allowing a vote was too scary for Mike Johnson because he could not risk passage, so he pulled the rug out from under his own conference, and in the process delivered a message to the American people.
Speaker Johnson told reporters:
There’s about a dozen members in the conference that are in these swing districts who are fighting hard to make sure they reduce costs for all of their constituents. And many of them did want to vote on this Obamacare Covid-era subsidy that Democrats created.
We looked for a way to try to allow for that pressure release valve, and it just was not to be. We worked on it all the way through the weekend, in fact. And in the end there was not an agreement — it wasn’t made.
…
I certainly appreciate the views and the opinions of every member of this conference. But I will tell you: One thing they will all join in unity on is voting for this bill that we’ve been discussing this morning.
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