With one week remaining before Congress recesses for the holidays, the House is scheduled to vote on a Republican health package that leadership hopes will address members' concerns about the affordability of health insurance. The bill would allow employers to offer workers tax-advantaged funds to pay for individual health insurance through custom health option and individual care expense (CHOICE) arrangements; fund cost-sharing reduction payments; enable small employers to form association health plans to offer coverage; and increase transparency for pharmacy benefit managers.

In a statement, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said, "House Republicans are tackling the real drivers of health care costs to provide affordable care, increase access and choice, and restore integrity to our nation's health care system for all Americans." The GOP package drew immediate criticism from House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), who in a post on X on Saturday called the bill "a toxic Republican Healthcare plan that hurts everyday Americans."

In a bid to address concerns by moderate House Republicans, leadership reportedly was considering a process related to extension of the enhanced Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium tax credits, which are otherwise set to expire on December 31. The leadership has sought to redirect support from a number of bills extending the ACA subsidies that are the subject of discharge petitions, which would compel the House to consider them if the petitions reach 218 signatures. This morning, however, Punchbowl News reported that talks related to the moderates' ACA amendment text broke down over the weekend. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), who has sponsored a bill to extend the premium tax credits for two years with reforms, and Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-VA), who has her own ACA proposal, are expected to offer their amendment to the House Rules Committee this week, but without the support of the GOP leadership it is expected to be rejected.

A health proposal drafted by Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee Chairman Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo (R-ID) was rejected by the Senate last week, 51-48, in a vote paired with a Democratic bill. On CBS' "Face the Nation" Sunday, Cassidy said, "The only thing the Democrats would accept was something that would decrease the premiums. But if a family has a $6,000 out-of-pocket before they get into the strength of the insurance plan, then, frankly, the policy is catastrophic. It brings profit to the insurance company, but not benefit to the patient … There has to be a meeting of the minds between Democrats and Republicans … I would be willing to do a short-term extension of the premium tax credits for those people with higher premiums, if they will concede that we've got to do something for the $6,000 out-of-pocket [threshold]. I think there's a deal to be had here. We need to push for that deal."

For his part, late Friday during a White House event, President Trump said, "I want to see the billions of dollars go to people, not to the insurance companies. And I want to see the people go out and buy themselves great health care."

Unless the House is able to pass some version of the ACA subsidy extensions this week, followed by quick action in the Senate — considered an unlikely scenario — the premium subsidies are expected to expire at the end of the year, after the Senate rejected two dueling health care proposals last week, each of which required 60 votes for passage. That would leave Congress scrambling to extend the subsidies in some form next year, or allow ACA policyholders to deal with substantial premium increases. As of December 5, more than 5.75 million people had obtained health insurance across the federal and state-based ACA exchanges, according to Bloomberg.

While Democrats spent the government shutdown highlighting the expiration of the premium tax credits, and a number of Republicans have stressed the urgency of the issue, large numbers of Republicans in both the House and Senate have expressed little interest in what they call a "bailout" of Obamacare. Additionally, any ACA bill backed by Republicans could carry Hyde Amendment language restricting the use of federally backed insurance to cover abortions, an idea that Democrats have opposed.

This week — After the House passed the fiscal 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) last week, 312-112, with 115 Democrats voting in support, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) has scheduled procedural votes this week that will likely culminate in a vote on final passage of the NDAA, which authorizes $901 billion in national defense spending.

After House Financial Services Committee Chairman French Hill (R-AR) last week rejected including the Senate's bipartisan housing bill in the final agreement for the NDAA, Hill and the committee are placing their own policy marker in the ground on Tuesday, ending the year with a two-day markup of housing bills and other measures. On the Senate side, Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott (R-SC) and other Republicans have pushed to mark up a bill this week establishing a regulatory market structure for digital assets. While bipartisan talks on the bill have made promising progress in recent days, several Senate Democrats said a markup this week would be premature, and as of Monday morning, the markup had not been scheduled.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics will release November nonfarm payroll figures on Tuesday, the first major snapshot of employment since the government shutdown. On Thursday, new jobless claims and some inflation data will be released.

Senate floor - The Senate will convene at 3 pm today. At 5:30 pm, the Senate will vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the motion to concur in the House amendment to S.1071, the NDAA.

Majority Leader Thune has also filed cloture on the following nominations:

• Jared Isaacman, of Pennsylvania, to be NASA Administrator
• Douglas Weaver, of Maryland, to be a Member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
• And other en bloc nominations listed in S. Res. 532.

House floor — The House will meet at noon today for morning business and at 2 pm for legislative business. The first votes will be at 6:30 pm. The House has teed up 20 bills for consideration under the expedited procedure called suspension of the rules. On Tuesday and for the rest of the week, the House will consider:

• H.R. 4371, the Kayla Hamilton Act (Rep. Fry)
• H.R. 3632, the Power Plant Reliability Act (Rep. Griffith)
• H.R. __ — Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act (Rep. Miller-Meeks)
• H.R. 3492, the Protect Children's Innocence Act (Rep. Greene)
• H.R. 1366, the Mining Regulatory Clarity Act (Rep. Amodei)
• H.R. 4776, the SPEED Act (Chairman Westerman, Natural Resources Committee)
• H.R. 498, the Do No Harm in Medicaid Act (Rep. Crenshaw)
• H.R. 3616, the Reliable Power Act (Rep. Balderson)

The House may also consider H. Con. Res. 61, directing the President, pursuant to section 5(c) of the War Powers Resolution, to remove U.S. Armed Forces from hostilities with presidentially designated terrorist organizations in the Western Hemisphere (by Foreign Affairs Committee Ranking Member Gregory Meeks, D-NY) or H. Con. Res. 64, directing the removal of U.S. Armed Forces from hostilities within or against Venezuela that have not been authorized by Congress (by Rep. McGovern of the Foreign Affairs Committee).