‘There Is No Excuse’: Senate Slammed for Punting on Bill to Restore ACA Subsidies

A week away from open enrollment ending in most states, 17 GOP members of the US House of Representatives helped Democrats pass a bill to restore lapsed Affordable Care Act premium tax credits—but senators have declined to act with that same urgency, and the deadline for many Americans to make coverage decisions for 2026 is Thursday.

Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio), a lead negotiator for a bipartisan Senate group working on a compromise for the expired ACA subsidies, told Politico on Tuesday that the legislative text will no longer be ready this week. Instead, it’s now expected the last week of January—after not only the upper chamber’s upcoming recess, but also when millions of people nationwide will have already had to choose a plan on an ACA marketplace or to forgo health insurance coverage due to surging premiums.