All Democrats signed the discharge petition to force a vote on the subsidies, along with four Republicans – Pennsylvania’s Ryan Mackenzie, Rob Bresnahan and Brian Fitzpatrick, as well as New York’s Mike Lawler.
“Our only request was a floor vote on this compromise, so that the American People’s voice could be heard on this issue,” Fitzpatrick said in a statement.
“As I’ve stated many times before, the only policy that is worse than a clean three-year extension without any reforms, is a policy of complete expiration without any bridge,” he went on to say.
On Tuesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson said there would be no vote on the subsidies because Republicans could not agree on the best way to extend them. Johnson wanted any extension to be offset with spending cuts.
But 24 hours later, moderate Republicans – many of whom expected to be in tough re-election battles come November – pushed past Johnson.
Should the discharge petition pass the House, it will go to the Senate, where it currently has some Republican support, but not enough to pass.
When asked when the Senate would vote on the three-year extension, Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters on Wednesday: “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it”.
If the subsidies expire, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that there will be an average of 3.8 million more uninsured Americans each year – in addition to healthcare insurance premiums more than doubling for many.
Correction 17 December: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that the House was due to vote on extending healthcare subsidies on Wednesday evening. This has been updated to say that vote has yet to be scheduled
