House Faces Health Crisis
Author: Greg Valliere
December 5, 2025
It could be Christmas Eve — or later — before the dysfunctional House comes up with a health premium bill.
This week was largely wasted, as rebellious House members lashed out at Speaker Mike Johnson, who is tenuously clinging to power.
Johnson’s biggest challenge is the inability to get a bill out of the House that would extend health care premiums to millions of Americans who face huge premium increases in January. The annual defense appropriation bill is also stalled.
If there’s no movement on either of these bills — or the massive “kick the can” measure — the Republicans will face the growing likelihood that they will lose control of the House in next fall’s election.
A year ago, House Republicans were surprisingly united; now they are bitterly divided. The only real agreement is that Johnson’s leadership has become an albatross for the party.
The legendary political guru Charlie Cook came out of semi-retirement this week to proclaim that the bickering GOP could lose a dozen seats, perhaps more, in November. They can afford to lose only two or three.
The logical solution is to extend the health and defense bills for another year or two. That’s do-able, but time is running out.
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