Republican Senators Require Abortion Restrictions to Support Trump’s Two-Year Obamacare Extension Proposal

The White House reportedly plans to unveil a health policy framework including a two-year extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies. While Congress awaits details, Republican senators say they will not support a deal without the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits taxpayers dollars from funding abortions.

“We don’t have any details on this plan, but Sen. Young supports Hyde protections and believes it should apply to any taxpayer funded health care spending,” Leah Selk, press secretary for Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., told The Daily Signal.

Another Republican senator who asked to remain anonymous told The Daily Signal any deal or legislation would have to at least include Hyde Amendment protections.

President Donald Trump will ask Congress to pass a bill preventing Affordable Care Act subsidies from expiring next month, sources familiar with the matter confirmed to The Daily Signal. The White House has not specified if its framework will include the Hyde Amendment.

“We are committed to upholding Americans’ values, but any official announcements of any specific plans will come from POTUS,” a White House official told The Daily Signal.

While the announcement was first reported to be coming as early as Monday, a White House official told The Daily Signal that there is no health announcement planned for today. MS Now reported that the White House is delaying the healthcare proposal after significant congressional backlash.

Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., said he will wait to review the bill language before making final decision, but he maintains his commitment to making sure taxpayers don’t fund abortions.

“Sen. Lankford will continue to push for strong Hyde protections, as federal law requires, and as he has always done,” a spokesman told The Daily Signal.

Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., will also not support a health care plan without Hyde, according to a spokesperson.

The pro-life movement is on the same page, with Kelsey Pritchard of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America telling The Daily Signal her organization “will continue to oppose any healthcare plan that does not include that safeguard.” She said that is where the majority of senators are going to land as well.

“We’ve seen many pledges of the importance of pro-life policy in the healthcare space,” Pritchard said.

Senate Republicans differ on if they want to extend Obamacare at all. Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., told reporters during the shutdown that to extend the subsidies would be to put more resources into a program that has not yielded results for Americans.

House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris, R-Md., previously told The Daily Signal “there’s no reason to [extend] it.”

“COVID is over,” he said. “The insurance companies have made billions of dollars off the enhanced tax credits. It’s about time to return to the pre-COVID level of tax credits with the original [Affordable Care Act] tax credits.”

Still, many Senate offices have told pro-life movement leaders that they plan to insist Hyde was included in whatever health care framework the chamber lands on, according to Quena González, senior director of government affairs at Family Research Council.

“I am sure that White House staff are very well aware of the concerns of pro-life Americans,” González added. “President Trump, in his first term, called himself, rightly, the most pro-life president in American history.”

Sen. Bill Cassidy, chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, told The Daily Signal that “Republicans are very, very, very concerned” about making sure the health care plan doesn’t fund abortion.

Cassidy proposed his own ACA funding bill which would use the current funding for enhanced premium tax credits to fund flexible spending accounts, or FSAs, for Obamacare eligible enrollees.

In order to end the record 43-day shutdown, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., offered Democrats a vote on an ACA funding bill by the end of the second week of December.

Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., proposed an alternative to Cassidy’s bill called the “More Affordable Care Act,” which would enable Obamacare customers to use a “Trump Health Freedom Account” that resembles a health savings account. His plan is Hyde-compliant by restricting use of funds on abortion.

But Senate Republicans will struggle to get the necessary 60 votes to pass any legislation that includes Hyde, whether it be the proposal from the White House, Cassidy, or Scott.

“It’s a nonstarter,” Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., told NBC News.

Since Republicans won’t vote for a bill without Hyde and Democrats won’t vote for a bill with it, reconciliation may be the chamber’s only option. Instead of needing 60 votes, a reconciliation bill only needs 50 votes in the Senate.

Republican Study Committee Chair August Pfluger, R-Texas, favors this option, saying it’s the best way to reduce health care costs for Americans.

“Our proposal will put power into patients’ hands by creating healthcare options that protect pre-existing conditions while giving families real alternatives to ObamaCare,” he wrote in the Wall Street Journal. “We’ll expand access to health savings accounts, grant employers more flexibility to help workers find coverage that fits their needs, and remove barriers to affordable generic and biosimilar drugs.”

Last week, White House Deputy Chief of Staff James Blair expressed interest in a bipartisan health plan but said that “if that path is foreclosed, there is the partisan path of reconciliation as well.”

Critics say this could be hard to get done before the end of the year, as it took Republicans months to use reconciliation to pass the “One Big Beautiful Bill” over the summer. Pro-lifers would also have to overcome the Byrd rule, which is meant to restrict the process to budgetary policy only.

Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough—essentially the Senate referee—decides on whether or not provisions in the budget reconciliation process follow Senate rules. 

But the pro-life coalition believes with enough preparation, senators can find a way to get Hyde restrictions on Obamacare subsidies through MacDonough. Due to pro-lifers’ hard work coming with language that prohibited Medicaid from funding abortions and transgender procedures in the Big, Beautiful Bill, MacDonough allowed the provision to pass.

“In some sense, the Byrd Bath is real, and there are limits to what you can do on reconciliation,” said Family Research Council’s González. “But on the other hand, political will counts for a lot.”

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