Jeffries Tries to Sidestep Republican Leadership on Health Care

With time winding down before the House breaks for Christmas, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is hitting Republicans’ pressure points.

On Monday, Jeffries announced he is introducing a discharge petition—a way to circumvent Republican leadership—in a bid to extend COVID-era enhanced health care premium tax credits before they expire. 

Jeffries appears to be trying to hit Republicans where it hurts, fomenting dissent in their caucus and gaining political momentum off of the health care issue.

Discharge Mayhem

Discharge petitions, which require 218 members to sign on in order to force consideration of a bill, have become increasingly common in this Congress. The petitions are a thorn in the side of leadership, granting Democrats power in the minority.

The mechanism allows a member to force a vote on legislation that leadership is not putting on the floor once the petition collects 218 signatures. The petition then sets off a timer of seven legislative days for the petition to “ripen,” at which point the speaker is given two legislative days to schedule a vote.

Recently, a discharge petition brought forward by Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif., forced consideration of a bill to compel the release of information on the now-deceased convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine, has also successfully gathered the 218 signatures necessary to force consideration of a bill to protect federal employees’ union rights.

Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., has also submitted a discharge petition to force a vote on his bill to sanction Russia, and the backers of a bipartisan bill to ban stock trading among members have discussed a discharge petition to force it on to the floor, as well.

Jeffries Not Interested in Negotiating

Jeffries is demanding a three-year, clean extension of the Obamacare premium tax credits—an idea most Republicans have rejected. 

“We only need a handful of Republicans to join us in order to save the healthcare of tens of millions of Americans,” Jeffries writes in his letter announcing the initiative. “It’s time for the do-nothing Republican Congress to proceed with urgency.”

This demand for a clean extension—despite Republicans criticisms of the credits as market-distorting, prone to fraud, and permissive of abortion—is in contrast with the openness some Democrats previously expressed to negotiate and reform the credits with Republicans.

“We have to write a version that is good for our values that helps people, but also is designed to get some Republican votes,” Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said shortly before the shutdown ended. 

Kaine ultimately voted to end the shutdown after receiving Republican guarantees of a vote on whether or not to extend the credits.

“Time has run out on Republican inaction,” Jeffries told The Daily Signal when asked why he would propose a clean extension.

The credits, which were boosted to higher levels and granted to higher earners under President Joe Biden, were set to expire at the end of 2025 by Democrats.

“We have a discharge petition that if it received an up or down vote in the House of Representatives, we are confident will pass,” Jeffries told The Daily Signal. “But obviously, [Speaker of the House] Mike Johnson [R-La.] has zero interest in protecting the health care of the American people. Instead, these extremists are gutting the health care of the people that they represent, including in the state of Louisiana.”

In response to Jeffries’s statement a spokeswoman for Johnson told The Daily Signal, “Democrats are once again fabricating a narrative and misrepresenting the Speaker’s position. The Speaker welcomes President Trump’s efforts to lower health care costs, and any White House input is a meaningful contribution to the thoughtful, deliberative conversations taking place in Congress.”

The White House, although it has not released any final proposal of how to resolve the subsidy expiration issue, has reportedly flirted with the idea of a two-year extension of the credits, involving reforms such as ending zero-premium credits.

She added, “After 43 days of the Democrat Shutdown—during which they demanded bipartisan talks and direct White House engagement—Democrats now attacked the mere possibility of President Trump’s involvement. If Democrats truly want to address health care affordability, why would they reject a plan they haven’t even seen? Democrats clearly prefer a partisan fight over working towards a bipartisan solution.”

The Path Forward

Jeffries’ discharge petition might be more of a messaging ploy than an actual attempt at passing legislation, as Democrats have consistently messaged on purported Republican attacks on health care and entitlement programs.

In the Senate, Republicans are still discussing proposals for replacing the COVID-era credits, such as Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy’s proposed flexible savings accounts (FSAs), which, if enacted, would allow consumers more flexibility in shopping for health care coverage and eliminate direct subsidies to insurance companies.

Jeffries suggests that, with total Democrat unanimity in the House, picking up the five necessary Republican defectors is a possibility.

“I guess we can always hope that there are a handful of Republicans who will actually do what they said that they would do once their shutdown ended, which is to work with Democrats to find a path forward,” he told reporters Monday.

Democrats’ success in this attempt would have to involve an extraordinary revolt against Republican leadership, going against the long-established position that the credits need reform if they are to be extended at all.

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