'Twas the week before Christmas and all throughout the People's House, not a deal on healthcare was in sight, or a ban on members trading stocks or their spouse.
House Speaker Mike Johnson elected to send the House of Representatives home on Thursday without a vote to stave off the impending expiration of enhanced tax credits for the Affordable Care Act's marketplace.
This came even though four Republicans signed House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries's discharge petition to force a vote on a three-year extension for the tax credits, which expire at the end of the month.
This means the 22 million Americans who buy their insurance on the marketplace could see their premiums double or even triple.
Johnson told Inside Washington he would not advance the legislation because once a petition receives the requisite 218 signatures, it has to sit on the calendar for seven legislative days. With the House out of session until next year, the clock will resume once it begins again.
"Because you cannot fast-forward the consideration on the floor of a discharge petition," Johnson said.
Understandably, many Republicans are not happy about it. Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.) criticized Johnson for keeping the House out of session for almost two months during the government shutdown.
"It was definitely a mistake for him not to bring one of these compromise measures to the floor," Kiley told Inside Washington.
Democrats are just as angry.
"It's also like the administration giving the middle finger to the American people," Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) told Inside Washington.
But while Democrats are understandably steamed about the expiration of the tax credits, so are many of the Republicans in tough races. Letting the tax credits expire and letting premiums skyrocket is political suicide.
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