How Jeffries beat Johnson
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House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries adhered to a single principle to outflank Speaker Mike Johnson on extending the expiring Affordable Care Act tax credits:
- Don't give an inch to Republican moderates looking for an escape hatch.
Why it matters: Jeffries got everything he wanted. Democrats will get a House vote on a three-year extension of the subsidies without any income caps or cost offsets.
- One senior House Dem told us of leadership's thinking: "We're going to have to negotiate with the Senate, but you don't start from a place of weakness."
Between the lines: Jeffries was pressed by several of his centrist members to throw his support behind discharge petitions introduced by Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), senior Democrats said.
- He held firm. In the end, Republicans — who tried and failed to attach ACA amendments to the bill the House passed tonight — came to Jeffries just as he hoped they would.
- Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.), Rob Bresnahan (R-Pa.) and Ryan Mackenzie (R-Pa.) all signed on to Jeffries' petition earlier today.
That left some Republicans fuming. "Our team should've put in the compromise. Now we're voting for the worse one. It's just sort of dumb," said Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) of his own party leadership's strategic choices.
- "We should put the best bill forward, now we're putting the worst bill forward. It doesn't make any sense," he added.
Zoom out: The result is a salve to Democrats who have watched their party leadership battered throughout the year by grassroots voters demanding they "fight harder" and "grow a spine."
- Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) said Jeffries has been "validated completely" after Democrats started 2025 with "a lot of angst and people wondering if we had the mettle."
- "He held his ground and he won," said Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.).
— Andrew Solender
