WSJ What’s News - Frustrated Republican Centrists Join Democrats to Force ACA Vote

Episode Date: December 17, 2025

P.M. Edition for Dec. 17. Some frustrated Republicans have bucked leadership and sided with House Democrats to force a vote on extending expiring healthcare subsidies. WSJ Congressional reporter Siobhan Hughes explains how next year’s midterms are factoring into that decision. Plus, the Oscars are going digital and heading to a new home: YouTube. And WSJ entertainment reporter Joe Flint tells us what options Paramount has left in its pursuit of Warner after the media company rejects its hostile bid. Julie Chang hosts.Sign up for the WSJ's free What's News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Get the yes you've been waiting for at Capital One.ca.ca. slash yes. Terms and conditions apply. The Oscars are leaving their long-time home at ABC, shifting from traditional TV broadcasting to YouTube. Plus, a group of frustrated GOP centrists side with House Democrats to force a vote on extending health care subsidies. To see this group of Republicans who are pretty much go along, get-along guys, not likely to be difficult for leadership, do this, really underscore. scores the political potency of the insurance issue. And what's next for Paramount after Warner rejects its bid again?

It's Wednesday, December 17th. I'm Julie Chang for the Wall Street Journal, sitting in for Alex Oscella. This is the PM edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories that move the world today. Four House Republicans have bucked, their leadership and cited with Democrats on an attempt to extend health care subsidies for millions of Americans. The four provided the final signatures needed to force a floor vote on the Enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies. Those tax credits are set to go back to levels from before

the pandemic, meaning higher health care costs next year for many Americans. One of the dissenting Republicans, New York Representative Mike Lawler, says Congress has a responsibility to act when leadership blocks action entirely. House Speaker Mike Johnson objects to the maneuver. He spoke on CNBC early this morning. Doing an end run around the majority party, the speaker, or the regular process is not the best way to make law. Shabon Hughes, who covers Congress for the Wall Street Journal, is joining us now from the Senate Press Gallery. Shabon, why are these particular lawmakers going against their leadership? It is absolutely extraordinary to see this group of Republicans buck their own House leadership, essentially muscle Speaker Johnson aside and say,

no, no, no, you must schedule a vote on this bill. To see this group of Republicans who are pretty much go along, get along guys, not likely to be difficult for leadership, do this, really underscores the political potency of the insurance issue. These Republicans are all in very, very tough races next year. And health care is going to be on the ballot. Everybody remembers the 2018 elections were very much about Republican efforts to try to repeal and end the Affordable Care Act. And so fearing a repeat of the blue wave in 2018, these Republicans are jumping out to defend their own constituents' interests. So what could this mean for Americans' health care costs? The premiums of the 24 million people who have Affordable Care Act coverage are going to spike next year.

subsidies will revert to pre-pandemic levels, and people making over 400% of the federal poverty line will lose subsidies entirely. But that is not going to be the final word. There is going to be a vote in January in the House on a three-year extension of the subsidies, and while that version is not going to make it into law, there are very intense and real conversations among both Republicans and Democrats about how to, in some form, extend these subsidies. Oh, and by the way, Democrats have a hammer that they can use here. Funding for much of the federal government expires starting on January 31st. And so in theory, Democrats could trigger another government shutdown if they wanted to make a point about this. So this force maneuver could make it more likely to extend the subsidies? Absolutely. It's going to put enormous pressure on Republicans to do something because it puts a very fine point on the fact that their House majority is on line over health care costs, and it also reminds the Senate Republicans that they too could either

lose or more likely see their majority diminished over this issue. The House is also voting on a GOP health care bill today. Is that related to the push to extend the health care subsidies? House Republicans know that they need to come up with an alternative, a way of showing that they too care about these high premiums. Their answer, though, has nothing to do with extending federal government subsidies. It has to do with technicalities involving funding certain cost sharing reductions that go to low-income people on the exchange plans and also allowing more big groups to come up with their own health insurance. Democrats don't like these so-called association plans because they don't mandate essential coverage like for maternity care, for prescription benefits, the way your

ACA plan does. But nonetheless, Republicans have data showing that this would reduce premiums by about 11%. Shavon Hughes, thank you for joining us. Thank you. Over in the Senate, lawmakers have approved a $901 billion defense policy package. The National Defense Authorization Act codifies more than a dozen of President Trump's executive orders. It now goes to the president for his signature. The journals on Vibutani has more. Some of the highlights in the bill include maintaining a minimum level of troops in Eastern Europe,

boosting missile defense funding, expanding cybersecurity money. measures and reinforcing policy aimed at counter Chinese and Russian military influence. The bill also authorizes $400 million annually in aid to Ukraine, as well as strengthening the U.S.-Israel partnership. The bill placed new limits on the president's ability to act unilaterally overseas, and it withholds some funds from the Pentagon until Congress receives unedited video footage of strikes against suspected drugboats in the Caribbean. And one provision relating to airports has drawn criticism from lawmakers and some Trump administration officials.

After the House passed its version of the defense bill, a particular measure that was put in would roll back some safety measures around Ronald Reagan National Airport here in Washington, D.C. The controversial provision would allow military helicopters to fly in the crowded airspace around Reagan National Airport. without a particular kind of broadcast system which broadcast its location. Lawmakers and families of crash victims from a mid-air collision in January say that this would make the airspace less safe. That collision between an Army Blackhawk helicopter and an American Airlines jet over the Potomac River killed all 67 people aboard the two aircrafts. Lawmakers say they hope to repeal the provision.

A new study has found that the Los Angeles wildfire from earlier this year took a toll on residents' health. Researchers looked at data from the emergency department of a local hospital, Cedar Sinai. They found that visits for heart attacks rose 46%, and visits for pneumonia and other pulmonary illnesses rose 24%. Meanwhile, visits for mysterious symptoms such as chest pain, abdominal pain, and dizziness more than doubled. The researchers tracked visits from January 7 when the massive palisades fire erupted through April 7 and compared the data to past years. Coming up, Putin says

Russia will fulfill its ambitions in Ukraine. And the Oscars are going digital. Those stories and more, after the break. A slump in shares of technology companies like Oracle, Nvidia, and Broadcom dragged stock markets lower today, with the NASDAG sliding 1.8%. The SNP also fell more than 1%.

while the Dow lost half a percent. And you heard about the medical supplies company Medline this morning. As a reminder, it raised $6.3 billion in the largest U.S. IPO since 2021. Today, its shares shot up more than 40 percent in their trading debut on the NASDAQ. Some of today's other big gainers include energy companies, ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, Occidental Petroleum, which climbed alongside oil prices. President Trump has ordered a blockade on sanctioned oil tankers and terrain. and leaving Venezuela, raising the risk of extended supply disruptions. And in international news, Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that Moscow will achieve its goals in Ukraine, through diplomacy, or on the battlefield. Speaking to Russian officials, Putin called European

leaders backing Ukraine piglets who want to feast on the collapse of Russia. Putin's speech signals that the Trump administration's push for a peace deal has not changed the Kremlin's objectives, which include permanently blocking Ukraine's path to NATO, and limiting the size of Ukraine's military. Turning to entertainment, Warner Brothers Discovery has recommended that shareholders reject Paramount's hostile tender offer for the company. Warner says Netflix's $72 billion deal is still the better one. Paramount today repeated that its own offer is better than Netflix's, and the company didn't

immediately make any changes to its $78 billion cash offer. Wall Street Journal Entertainment reporter Joe Flint says Paramount still has a few options in its pursuit of Warner. Well, its options are to continue with its tender offer now, which doesn't expire for, you know, several more weeks. They've got this offer on the table and they can see how many shareholders might sign up for it and try to force it. But Warner is pushing back so strongly against it. I would think it's an uphill climb to get a majority of shareholders. They could come back with a higher bid. If they don't make a higher bid, though,

I'm not sure what other options they may have short of filing some sort of legal action if they really feel they have a strong enough case here. And elsewhere in entertainment, after decades airing on Disney's ABC Network, the Oscars are moving to YouTube. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences struck a deal with the video website

for the Hollywood Awards show's new home. The Oscars will start running on YouTube in 2029, and the deal extends through 2033. The Oscars will be available live and for free to more than 2 billion viewers around the world on YouTube and to subscribers of YouTube TV, a paid service in the U.S. ABC will still host the next three Oscars and says it looks forward to those. And that's What's News for this Wednesday afternoon. Today's show was produced by Anthony Bansy with supervising producer Tali Arbell.

I'm Julie Chang for the Wall Street Journal. We'll be back with a new show tomorrow morning. Thanks for listening.