Moderate Republican erupts on House GOP leaders, says not holding Obamacare vote is 'absolute bulls---'

By Fox News · Fox News

A moderate House Republican is raging against his own party after negotiations over a vote on extending COVID-19-era Obamacare subsidies fell apart. Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., told reporters Tuesday morning that it was "idiotic" and "political malpractice" to not hold an "up-or-down vote" on the subsidies, which are set to expire at the end of this year. He also turned his ire on House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., who he accused of rejecting moderate Republicans' compromise solutions in order to keep the issue alive as a political cudgel. "You have two leaders that are not serious about solving this," Lawler said in reference to Jeffries and Speaker Mike Johnson , R-La. "I am pissed for the American people. This is absolute bulls---." SENATE REPUBLICANS UNVEIL PLAN TO REPLACE OBAMACARE SUBSIDIES WITH HEALTH SAVINGS ACCOUNTS House Republicans have introduced their own healthcare bill aimed at lowering prices via cost-sharing reductions, drug cost transparency measures, and association healthcare plans, which allow small employers and self-employed Americans to work in small groups to purchase coverage. And while a majority of GOP lawmakers are against any sort of extension of the subsidies, Democrats and a group of moderate House Republicans have warned that a failure to act will result in millions of Americans seeing significant price hikes for their premiums. House GOP leadership aides told reporters late last week that they expected some sort of amendment vote on the expiring subsidies, but a source familiar told Fox News Digital on Tuesday that those talks fell apart due to disagreements over how to cover the cost of an extension. SENATE DEMS BLOCK REPUBLICANS' HSA PLAN AS OBAMACARE DEADLINE NEARS The growing pressure has spawned three separate efforts to force a vote on extending the subsidies via discharge petitions, mechanisms to override the will of House GOP leadership on a piece of legislation, provided it has support from the majority of cham…