The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a bipartisan package of three spending bills. The package, which passed January 8th, includes the restoring of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies that expired at the end of 2025.
A faction of Republicans broke away and voted alongside the Democrats to pass these provisions. The vote came to a total of 230-196 to approve the measure, with 17 Republicans joining the Democrats in the end.
This could signal cracks beginning to emerge within the Republican Party, with moderate Republicans crossing party lines. Many Republicans represent swing states or high-stakes districts, and feeling the pressure from constituents at home, many find themselves walking the tightrope of wanting to be re-elected but not angering their party leader.
Representative Derrick Van Orden, who represents a competitive district in Wisconsin, is one of the Republicans who crossed party lines. He said he still believed the ACA “broke” the healthcare system.
“Philosophically, I completely disagree with this,” said Mr. Van Orden, “But I’m not going to leave millions of Americans who truly need health care insurance in the lurch.”
Whether this means the provision will see enactment is not clear. The measure has already been rejected in the Senate, and although this could spur a compromise in the chamber, the president said on Sunday he might veto legislation to extend federal health insurance subsidies.
Should it pass, the measure would restore expanded ACA tax credits for three years. For the Democrats, these subsidies – and healthcare in general – was the main focus during the shutdown last year. These particular subsidies were expanded during Covid-19, to help Americans afford rising health care coverage. When they lapsed in December, the tax credits returned to the original levels that were enacted when the ACA was passed in 2010.
Following the expiration of ACA subsidies, the federal government cited 22.8 million Americans had enrolled in ACA plans starting January 1st, down from 24.2 million from the previous year. With this being the first figures since the change in policy, many health policy experts anticipate enrolment to drop further in the coming months.
Representative Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader, praised the vote as a “bipartisan compromise”, saying:
“House Democrats have made clear that we will find bipartisan common ground with any of our Republican colleagues in order to address the affordability issues that are making life more expensive.”
Notably, funding work is still behind schedule – so far Congress has only passed three of the 12 yearly spending bills that fund federal agencies for the fiscal year. Failure to pass the remainder before a January 30th deadline risks another shutdown just months after a record-setting, 43-day shutdown that occurred last year.
Three of the annual appropriations bills have been passed by the House and are awaiting a vote from the Senate. Passed by the House and now being considered by the Senate are departments Commerce, Justice and Science, Energy and Water Development.
Agriculture, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Legislative Branch appropriations are funded for the full year, as of the end of the government shutdown last November.
Six appropriations bills remain in the negotiation process, including Defence, Labour, Health and Human Services, and Homeland Security (DHS). Given the current political discourse around the actions of DHS and more specifically ICE, the result of these negotiations will likely be consequential.
The government is set to see another shutdown after January 30th if Congress fails to pass these spending bills or a short-term extension in the meantime.
Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer told ABC news that there would not be another shutdown, adding that appropriators have been making “good progress.”
Beyond the three bills included in the package, Congress still needs to pass a total of nine more appropriations bills for the 2026 fiscal year, which started October 1st.
