Jeffries and Clark press Rules Committee to let House extend ACA premium tax credits during open enrollment
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Summary
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Whip Catherine Clark testified to the Rules Committee that extending enhanced ACA premium tax credits for multiple years is urgent as open enrollment letters are already landing in consumers' hands, and they pushed for a fast House vote on a Senate compromise.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Democratic Whip Catherine Clark pressed the Rules Committee to allow a vote on an amendment to extend enhanced Affordable Care Act premium tax credits, saying the lapse would immediately make coverage unaffordable for millions.
"This amendment to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits for tens of millions of hardworking American taxpayers is designed to put the American people first," Jeffries said, emphasizing that families are seeing letters showing their premiums will rise by thousands of dollars.
Clark offered district-level examples of how a middle-class couple could face monthly premium increases ranging from several hundred to several thousand dollars next year if credits lapse. "In Pendleton, New York, this couple will go from paying $623 to $1,160 per month," she said, and she urged colleagues to bring a bipartisan fix to the floor.
Democrats framed the extension as a narrowly targeted, urgent measure to stabilize insurance markets during open enrollment. Republicans on the committee countered that the underlying ACA and the temporary enhanced credits have structural issues and argued many elements belong to authorizing committees. Several Republican members said they opposed automatically extending credits without reforms and said they worried about program waste.
The Rules Committee considered motions to create expedited procedures that would guarantee the House an up-or-down vote on a Senate-passed ACA extension, but members voted down those procedural changes in committee. Jeffries and Clark urged members to allow a vote on the House floor so rank-and-file members could record support or opposition.