House and Senate Republican leaders return to Capitol Hill this week with about twelve legislative days left in 2025 facing a year-end deadline on Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies without a unified plan for how, or even whether, to extend the expiring benefits for millions of Americans. The debate is pitting Republicans concerned with delivering on “affordability” ahead of the 2026 midterms against conservatives who have spent years bashing Obamacare as a government takeover of the U.S. health care system. Centrist GOP lawmakers facing tough midterm races are fighting to keep the subsidies in place, while other Republicans think the enhanced tax credits — approved by Democrats during the COVID-19 pandemic — should sunset on January 1st, as scheduled. Across the Capitol, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-South Dakota) promised a vote on extending the health care subsidies as a condition of Democrats voting to end the record-setting government shutdown. But there was no promise that the bill would win enough GOP support to pass — or that Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) would bring it to a vote in the House. The Senate will vote as soon as December 9th on that undefined health care proposal, the fulfillment of the bipartisan deal to reopen the government. Complicating the debate further, President Donald Trump said last week that he’d “rather not” extend the subsidies and prefers a system of direct cash payments to patients. He acknowledged, however, that “some kind of extension may be necessary.”
For today, the Senate will convene at 3:00 P.M. and at 5:30 P.M. will have one roll call vote on a Motion to invoke cloture on Executive Calendar #472, David A. Bragdon, of North Carolina, to be United States District Judge for the Middle District of North Carolina.
The House will meet at 12:00 P.M. for morning hour and 2:00 P.M. for legislative business and at 6:30 P.M. will take up 22 bills Under Suspension of the Rules including H.R. 2066 – Investing in All of America Act of 2025.
