BETHLEHEM, Pa. — U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie broke from his party's leadership and voted for a three-year extension of Affordable Care Act tax credits Thursday night, offering a glimmer of hope to millions of Americans who saw their insurance premiums double in the new year.
Mackenzie, the Lehigh Valley's first-term congressman, is one of several Republicans in battleground districts who had tried to hammer out a compromise deal last year on the tax breaks.
But when House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, showed little interest, Mackenzie and three others GOP representatives signed a Democratic-led discharge petition in December that forced a vote without the reforms they had been seeking.
That bill passed the House by a 230-196 vote Thursday night with Mackenzie and 16 other Republicans, including U.S. Reps. Tom Kean, R-N.J., and Brian Fitzpatrick and Robert Bresnahan, both of Pennsylvania, voting in favor.
The bill now heads to the Senate, which failed to pass an extension of the tax credits of their own by the end-of-year deadline.
In a prepared statement, Mackenzie was critical of the Affordable Care Act, saying it has made health care too expensive for many Americans.
"It's now time for members of the Senate — on both sides — to come together and support a bipartisan health care plan that delivers the relief and reform that the American people deserve."U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, R-Lehigh Valley
He said that by voting to extend the credits, he hoped it would revive efforts to reform the system. He had previously called for caps that would limit the caps to middle-class families and cut out insurance brokers who he said game the system.
"It's now time for members of the Senate — on both sides — to come together and support a bipartisan health care plan that delivers the relief and reform that the American people deserve," Mackenzie said.
Next steps uncertain
National outlets reported that a bipartisan group of senators are trying to hash out a deal that includes some of those reforms, but its future is in question.
While the House version with no reforms has little chance of passing in the Senate, it could serve as a launching point for a compromise package.
The vote is the latest example of Mackenzie attempting to thread the needle of being a loyal supporter of President Donald Trump and Johnson while supporting broadly popular policies in his battleground district.
Trump has called the Affordable Care Act a scam, and Johnson pressured his conference to reject the Democratic bill Thursday night.
The Lehigh Valley's 7th Congressional District seat is one of the most contested seats in the country with the last three congressional races all being decided by 3 points or less. With the chamber narrowly divided and most districts dominated by a single party, PA-7 has an outsized role in determining which party holds the House majority.
To date, six Democrats have formally launched campaigns in bids to oust Mackenzie from office in this year's midterm election.
Bresnahan, Fitzpatrick and Kean — whose districts all border Mackenzie's — find themselves in similar territory as Republicans try to defend swing seats.
