17 Republicans rebel against House GOP leaders, join Dems to pass Obamacare extension

By Fox News · Fox News

The House of Representatives has passed a bill to revive and extend COVID-19 pandemic-era enhanced Obamacare subsidies, in a major victory for Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y. 17 House Republicans broke ranks with GOP leaders to support the legislation after Democrats were successful in forcing a vote via a mechanism called a privileged resolution. A discharge petition is a mechanism for getting legislation considered on the House floor even if the majority's leadership is opposed to it, provided the petition gets a majority of House lawmakers' signatures. Jeffries filed the discharge petition late last year, which was then signed by four House Republicans — helping it clinch the critical majority threshold. Five more House Republicans joined Democrats in a Wednesday evening vote to advance the legislation for final consideration Thursday. CONGRESS FAILS TO SAVE OBAMACARE SUBSIDIES AFTER SHUTDOWN FIGHT, PREMIUMS SET TO SURGE It underscores the perilously slim margins that Speaker Mike Johnson , R-La., is governing with. House Republicans hold just a two-vote majority with full attendance on both sides, numbers that could easily shift when lawmakers are absent for personal or health reasons. As Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., put to reporters on Wednesday morning, "We are one flu season away from losing the majority." The successful vote on Thursday is a blow for Johnson, who argued for weeks that the majority of House Republicans were opposed to extending the COVID-19 pandemic-era tax subsidies. But a significant number of GOP moderates were frustrated that their party leaders in the House and Senate had done little to avert a price hike for millions of Americans' insurance premiums. A Democrat-controlled Congress voted twice, in 2020 and in 2021, to enhance Obamacare subsidies to give more people access to federal healthcare during the pandemic. SEN JIM JUSTICE SAYS REPUBLICANS ARE 'LOUSY' AT KNOWING WHAT EVERYDAY AMERICANS THINK ABOUT HEALTHCARE Those subsidie…