Led by House Democrats, the House passed a bill extending the enhanced Affordable Care Act premium tax credits after Donald Trump and Republicans allowed them to expire at the end of last year, raising health care premiums for tens of millions of Americans. Meanwhile, the overwhelming majority of House Republicans voted to do nothing about skyrocketing premiums for millions of working families. 

In response, DNC Chair Ken Martin released the following statement: 

“House Republicans have once again chosen to abandon working families by voting against lower health care premiums. Millions of everyday Americans have already seen their health care premiums skyrocket, and what are Donald Trump and Republicans doing to help? Not a damn thing. They already gutted Medicaid while handing out massive tax cuts to billionaires — and now they see no problem with allowing costs to skyrocket even more. House Democrats fought tooth and nail to pass this bill, and now the Senate must come to the table and extend the tax credits — it’s time to stop screwing around with Americans’ health care.” 

In December, House Republicans voted to pass a bill that would do nothing to address skyrocketing health care premiums and wouldn’t even scratch the surface of lowering costs. Meanwhile, they let the clock run out on extending the ACA tax credits and allowed premiums to soar for over 20 million Americans by an average of 114%. House Speaker Mike Johnson refused to even bring up the proposal, and Senate Majority Leader John Thune has indicated that the Senate won’t vote on extending the tax credits without also considering years-old Republican ideas that won’t bring down high costs. 

Meanwhile, Donald Trump couldn’t be bothered to fix the health care crisis he created, saying, “I’d rather not extend them at all.” It’s no wonder over 60% of Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of health care.