Three GOP representatives from Pennsylvania oppose their party to force vote on extending health care subsidies

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Four U.S. House Republicans joined Democrats to force a House vote on extending Affordable Care Act premium subsidies. Three of the four who voted for the discharge petition represent Pennsylvania.

Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Bucks County; Rob Bresnahan, R- Scranton; and Ryan Mackenzie, R- Lehigh Valley; joined New York’s Mike Lawler to give Democrats the 218 votes they needed to pass the discharge petition, which will require a floor vote on whether to extend the ACA subsidies for three years — credits that help millions of Americans afford health care coverage.

The move defies House Speaker Mike Johnson, who opposed bringing the issue up, a point Fitzpatrick made in explaining why he felt it necessary to make the move.

“Unfortunately, it is House leadership themselves that have forced this outcome,” Fitzpatrick said in a statement. Fitzpatrick said that he and other Republicans had attempted to find some compromise but those efforts were “rejected.” “The only policy that is worse than a clean three-year extension without any reforms, is a policy of complete expiration without any bridge.”

However, the efforts also reflect growing concern among moderate Republicans in swing districts about rising health care costs among their constituents. Fitzpatrick, Bresnahan and Mackenzie are among the country’s most vulnerable sitting members going into the 2026 midterm elections. Democrats are directly targeting their districts as they try to regain control of the House.

Nearly 500,000 Pennsylvanians obtain their insurance through Pennie, Pennsylvania’s ACA marketplace, most with the aid of enhanced premium tax credits that are set to expire at the end of the year unless Congress intervenes. Those customers will then see premiums rise by 21% on average, with many paying double their current premiums.

Some area Democrats argue that the local Republicans are merely trying to bolster their chances next year by straddling a tightrope between party loyalty and the needs of their constituents.

Bucks County Commissioner Bob Harvie, a Democrat running to unseat Fitzpatrick, accused Fitzpatrick of “posturing” in advance of next year’s election.

“If Brian Fitzpatrick wanted credit for being a leader and doing his job, he should have done this in the spring when it first came up in discussions with the Trump budget bill, which he voted to advance,” Harvie said. “They never would’ve let it go through the House without these extensions.”

Although he voted for the first iteration of the bill, which cut funding for Medicaid and Medicare, Fitzpatrick ultimately voted against it a few months later. Mackenzie and Bresnahan, however, did vote for its ultimate passage, which their opponents have been quick to jump on.

“Rob Bresnahan unleashed a health care crisis on Northeastern Pennsylvania by voting for the largest cuts to Medicaid in history, stripping funding from our rural hospitals, and failing to take meaningful action in time to prevent health care costs from skyrocketing for Northeastern Pennsylvanians next month,” Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti said in a statement.

“Ryan Mackenzie’s eleventh hour attempt to paper over his own record of gutting health care and jacking up costs is like an arsonist calling the fire department after he already lit the match,” said firefighter Bob Brooks, who is running to replace Mackenzie. “Hardworking people all across the Lehigh Valley are struggling with rising prices and a health care crisis that Mackenzie unleashed when he voted for Trump’s so-called ‘Big Beautiful Bill.’”

Neither Fitzpatrick nor Bresnahan responded to WHYY News’ requests for comment, but Mackenzie replied with a statement in which he called the health care crisis “a serious issue with real-world consequences” and said “we must find commonsense, bipartisan solutions to protect access to health insurance for families in the Lehigh Valley and the Poconos.”

Mackenzie’s office pushed back on the characterization that the congressman waited until “the 11th hour,” arguing he has spent several months working with members on both sides of the aisle to find a bipartisan compromise. They also pointed out that Mackenzie participated in a televised town hall in September, during which he discussed the impending health care crisis.

Sans bipartisan compromise, Mackenzie called the three-year extension “the only remaining option.” He further blamed Democrats for failing to sign onto his efforts for compromise that would include “longer-term reforms that reduce costs.”

“The Affordable Care Act remains broken, and our health care system is in urgent need of reforms that improve transparency, expand choice, and reduce costs,” he said. “Supporting this discharge petition is currently the only way to keep discussions about bipartisan reforms alive.”

Harvie disputes that contention and that the “so-called problem solvers” among the Republican Party have their constituents’ best interests at heart.

“The Republican party’s been trying to kill the Affordable Care Act since it was originally passed, and I think this is just another step of what they’re trying to do and they’re trying to make it look like they’re not doing it,” he said. “Democrats have been fighting for people to have access to health care access that really is meaningful to expand health care opportunities for people.”