Politics
The Speaker’s Lobby: What Congress’ December script means for healthcare next year
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This December on Capitol Hill appears to follow a familiar script.
There’s a deadline for Congress to act on (insert issue here). And if lawmakers don’t move by Jan. 1, then (insert consequence here). So, everyone on Capitol Hill clamors over pathways to finish (given issue). Lawmakers and staff are at the end of their wits. Everyone is worried about Congress successfully fixing the problem and getting everyone home for the holidays.
There’s always the concern that Congress will emerge as The Grinch, pilfering Whoville of Christmas toys.
But lawmakers often wind up toiling with the diligence and efficiency of Santa’s elves, plowing through late-night, overnight and weekend sessions, usually finishing (insert issue here) in the St. Nick of time.
THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THURSDAY’S BIG SENATE VOTES ON HEALTHCARE
This pattern is always the same. With few variations.
This parliamentary dance of the sugar plum fairies frequently centers on deadlines for government funding, the debt ceiling and tax policy. Such was the case when the Senate passed the first version of Obamacare on Christmas Eve morning in 2009. Republicans skated on thin ice to finish their tax reform package in December 2017.
Lawmakers moved expeditiously to approve a defense policy bill in late 2020, then made sure they had just enough time on the calendar to override President Trump’s veto of the legislation before the very end of the 116th Congress in early January 2021.
The deadlines sometimes veer into the political. There was a crush to finish articles of impeachment on the House floor for both presidents Clinton and Trump in December 1998 and December 2019, respectively.
And, so, after everyone got this fall’s government shutdown worked out of their systems, lawmakers were far from prepared to address its root cause. Democrats refused to fund the government unless Congress addressed spiking healthcare premiums. Those premiums shoot up on Jan. 1. And no one has built enough consensus to pass a bill before the end of the year.
Yet.
This December is playing out like many others on Capitol Hill. (Celal Gunes/Anadolu via Getty Images)
But it’s only mid-December. And everyone knows that the congressional Christmas legislative spirit can be slow to take hold. Some of that holiday magic may have officially arrived Thursday afternoon after the Senate incinerated competing Republican and Democratic healthcare plans.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., pushed a three-year extension of the current Obamacare subsidies with no built-in reforms.
“This is going to require that Democrats come off a position they know is an untenable one and sit down in a serious way and work with Republicans,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said of the Democratic proposal.
Thune characterized the Democrats’ gambit as “a political messaging exercise.”
MODERATE REPUBLICANS STAGE OBAMACARE REBELLION AS HEALTH COST FRUSTRATIONS ERUPT IN HOUSE
Republicans even mulled not putting forth a healthcare plan at all. It was the group of Senate Democrats who ultimately helped break a filibuster to reopen the government last month that demanded a healthcare-related vote (not a fix, but a vote) in December. So, that’s all Thune would commit to.
“If Republicans just vote no on a Democrat proposal, we’ll let the premiums go up and Republicans don’t offer anything. What message is that going to send?” asked Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo. “I know what people in Missouri will think. They’ll look at that, and they’ll say, ‘Well, you guys don’t do anything. You’ve just let my premiums go up.’”
It may yet come to that.
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., questioned what message “no” votes by his party would send. (Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
So, there’s a holiday healthcare affordability crisis.
“People are looking now at exactly what’s ahead for them, and they’re very, very frightened,” said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee.
But most Senate Republicans coalesced around a plan drafted by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Michael Crapo, R-Idaho, and Senate Health Committee Chairman Bill Cassidy, R-La. The bill would not renew Obamacare subsidies. Instead, it would allow people to deposit money into a healthcare savings account and shop around for coverage.
“Our plan will reduce premiums by 1% and save taxpayers money,” boasted Crapo. “In contrast, the Democrats’ temporary COVID bonuses do not lower costs or premiums at all.”
With skyrocketing prices, Republicans are desperate to do something, even if it’s a figgy pudding leaf, as they face competitive races next year.
COLLINS, MORENO UNVEIL OBAMACARE PLAN AS REPUBLICANS SEARCH FOR SOLUTION TO EXPIRING SUBSIDIES
“It has nothing to do with me. It has everything to do with people in Ohio and across America who need to be able to afford access to healthcare,” said Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio.
Gov. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, appointed Husted to succeed Vice President Vance after he left the Senate. So, 2026 will be Husted’s first time on the ballot for the Senate.
There was some chatter that Republicans might allow for a limited extension of the Obamacare aid so long as Democrats agreed to abortion restrictions in exchange.
“Off the table. They know it damn well,” thundered Schumer.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said abortion restrictions in exchange for a limited extension are “off the table.” (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
So, the competing plans needed 60 yeas to clear a procedural hurdle. But that also meant that both plans were destined to fail without solving the problem before the end of the year.
“We have to have something viable to vote on before we get out of here,” lamented Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C.
That’s why some Christmas congressional calendar magic often compels lawmakers to find a last-minute solution.
“Every legislator up here would like to be home for Christmas,” said Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan. “That pressure is what forces us to come together.”
CONGRESS FACES HOLIDAY CRUNCH AS HEALTH CARE FIX COLLIDES WITH SHRINKING CALENDAR
We’ll know soon if everyone buckles down to harness soaring premiums after days of political posturing.
“This should have been done in July or August. So, we are up against a deadline,” said Hawley.
And procrastination by lawmakers may yet do them in.
“Healthcare is unbelievably complicated,” said Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D. “You’re not going to reform it and bring down costs overnight.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is promising a separate healthcare bill. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo)
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is now promising a separate, still unwritten healthcare bill for the floor in the coming days.
“You’re going to see a package come together that will be on the floor next week that will actually reduce premiums for 100% of Americans,” said Johnson.
But it’s unclear if Congress can pass anything.
“I think there’s a fear of working with Democrats. There’s a fear (of) taking action without the blessing of the President,” said Rep. Susie Lee, D-Nev.
GOP WRESTLES WITH OBAMACARE FIX AS TRUMP LOOMS OVER SUBSIDY FIGHT
That’s why it’s possible Congress could skip town for the holidays without solving the problem.
“It will be used like a sledgehammer on us a year from now,” said Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb.
Not a great message for Republicans — especially on affordability — before the midterms.
“If there’s no vote, that’ll run contrary to what the majority of the House wants and what the vast majority of the American people want,” said Rep. Kevin Kiley, R-Calif.
Rep. Kevin Kiley said a no vote runs contrary to the will of the American people. (Scott Strazzante/Pool/Getty Images)
That political concern may be just enough to force the sides to find some Christmas magic and address the issue before the holidays.
That’s one Yuletide script in Congress.
But there’s a script to not fixing things, too.
If Congress leaves town, every communications director on Capitol Hill will author a press release accusing the other side of channeling Ebenezer Scrooge, declaring “Bah humbug!” or dumping a lump of coal in the stockings of voters on Christmas.
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That’s the script.
And every year, it sleighs me.
Feb. 6, 2025
Because the party out of power almost always does well in midterm elections, Democrats should be cruising toward a comfortable performance in the fall. And public sentiment has steadily drifted away from President Trump — and, by proxy, Republicans — amid an unpopular war with Iran, high gas prices and discontent with the president’s handling of the economy.
But public sentiment matters only so much in elections. The way congressional maps are drawn can have an enormous impact on which party is favored to win. Over the last year, Republicans have created a structural advantage by redrawing maps to carve out more safe red territory.
The data from the Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan group that analyzes elections, lays bare this tug-of-war for House control.
House race ratings from the Cook Political Report
Of the 88 revisions the Cook Political Report has made to race ratings since February 2025, two-thirds of them shifted toward Democrats. Yet most of the races in which Republicans gained ground were not because they won over voters, but because they redrew district lines. Four out of every five shifts in Republicans’ favor were the result of partisan redistricting.
Here’s a step-by-step breakdown of the shifts.
When the Cook Political Report published its first set of ratings for this midterm cycle in February 2025, it gave Republicans a nominal advantage. Congressional maps are usually drawn only once a decade to reflect population shifts after the census. But this year Republicans started a rare round of middecade redistricting at the urging of President Trump, prompting battles with Democrats nationwide.
In the first round, Texas redrew its map to add more Republican-favored seats. Shortly after, Republican-led governments in Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio followed suit.
In response, leaders in California drew new maps to add safer Democratic seats, which voters approved in November. The same month, Utah went through court-ordered redistricting, restoring the state’s one Democratic-leaning district. For the next several months, Democrats overperformed in special elections and continued to lead in general congressional polling. As the political environment shifted during this period, the Cook Political Report revised dozens of race ratings — unrelated to redistricting efforts — and nearly all of them shifted toward Democrats.
In April, voters in Virginia approved a new map that added more Democratic-leaning seats. It seemed for a while that the redistricting battle would shake out to be a stalemate between the parties.
Then the tides of redistricting turned back in Republicans’ favor. Florida lawmakers swiftly approved a new map to add more Republican-leaning districts. The Supreme Court weakened the Voting Rights Act, prompting several Southern states like Alabama, Louisiana and Tennessee to redraw their maps in ways that helped Republicans.
And in another blow to Democrats, Virginia’s new map was struck down in court, wiping out the potential Democratic gains there.
The Cook Political Report typically revises its race ratings for a wide variety of reasons. Polling numbers change. Strong challengers emerge. Incumbents decide to retire. The results of primary and special elections change the political landscape. Revisions from these factors often inch a race modestly along the rating spectrum, shifting it to be slightly more competitive or slightly less so.
Redistricting, which has affected nearly half of all revisions so far this cycle, has rewritten these rules. In many cases, seats have shifted suddenly from safely Democratic seats to safely Republican, vaulting them from one end of the rating spectrum to the other and bypassing the competitive middle entirely.
Midterm elections in the last two decades have been largely seen as a referendum on the party that controls the White House. It remains to be seen if the gains the G.O.P. has built into the electoral map will be enough to overcome the Democrats’ environmental advantage.
“We still view Democrats as favorites — strong favorites — to retake control of the House of Representatives in November,” said Matthew Klein, an analyst at the Cook Political Report who focuses on the House and governors’ races. “But certainly Republicans have built a bit more of a firewall than they had at this time last year.”
Politics
Platner campaign rocked with damning allegations from another ex-lover as Senate race heats up: report
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A day after Graham Platner became the Democratic Senate nominee in Maine, a woman took to social media to allege that she briefly dated Platner in 2021, recounting stories of having met him on the Tinder dating app, his infidelity and how Platner’s story about his infamous Nazi tattoo had changed over time.
“I am stepping forward as a person who has experienced lying and manipulation by his hand to lend my voice to what is a growing number of women who have been wronged by this man in one way or another,” a female streamer with the X handle, 420mercymain69, wrote in a long X statement on Thursday.
“It is hideous,” the woman, who claimed she was attracted to Platner’s Tinder profile because he was “hot and he was a leftist,” said in her X statement.
The new details add another layer to Platner’s allegedly deceptive conduct towards romantic partners and grows the pile of scandals that have trailed his campaign.
SENATE CANDIDATE GRAHAM PLATNER SENT EXPLICIT TEXTS TO MULTIPLE WOMEN WHILE MARRIED, WIFE SAYS: REPORT
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner participated in a television interview on May 1, 2026, in Portland, Maine, following a campaign event with the Maine AFL-CIO. (Graeme Sloan/Getty Images)
Platner, who officially became the Democratic nominee to challenge incumbent Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, earlier this week, has grappled with his resurfaced past — receiving criticism for making off-color remarks on sexual abuse, race and terror and allegedly threatening behavior toward women.
According to 420mercymain69, a native of Maryland who considered herself a “well-informed leftist,” the two of them started talking on Tinder in Feb. 2021 and started dating until mid-July 2021.
When approached about his Totenkopf tattoo, a symbol used by the Nazi SS, the author claims Platner said that he had gotten it in ignorance but that he had kept it as a reminder that the U.S. were “the bad guys” in many parts of the world.
“A sob story of monumental proportions that only further solidified my perception of his ideology,” the author remembered.
“But surprisingly enough not the one he gave to the people of Maine,” she continued. “And I do mean genuinely surprising because from the moment he announced his campaign, that is exactly what I expected to hear when the truth inevitably came out.”
DEMOCRATIC MAINE SENATE CANDIDATE GRAHAM PLATNER CONFRONTED BY MS NOW HOST ABOUT TATTOO CONTROVERSY
Graham Platner with his wife Amy Gertner earlier this month. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
When the tattoo surfaced late last year, he had said he wasn’t familiar with its Nazi associations.
“Graham’s repeatedly said he picked a skull-and-crossbones tattoo off a wall in Croatia to commemorate surviving Ramadi and his friends who were killed there,” a spokesperson from the Platner campaign told Fox News. “Graham has also since covered up the tattoo, and answered countless questions about it.”
“Unlike Susan Collins, who refuses to take questions on her disastrous vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh, gut rural hospitals, and supported every foreign war of the last thirty years,” the spokesperson continued.
Aside from the tattoo, 420mercymain69 also accused Platner of several instances of relational infidelity.
Platner and the post’s author parted ways after she discovered from a mutual friend that he was allegedly seeing someone else while the two were still dating.
“He was talking about a woman he had blown it with, saying she was ‘the love of his life.’ I was naïve and probably a little too starry-eyed from my own good, but as a person who had only been on a handful of dates with him and f—– around a bit, I was smart enough to know he wasn’t talking about me,” the woman claimed.
“I took the hint,” she continued.
She claimed that, after leaving the relationship, she discovered Platner had been engaged to a woman named “Jen” when the two began conversing.
She was also told that Platner was allegedly cheating on her with a third woman.
“She had walked in on him having sex with another person at a wedding they were at in D.C. That mutual friend also advised that he was trying to repair things with this woman and asked me if I was going to seek her out to tell her,” she said on X.
In summarizing her experience, which was reportedly confirmed by The New York Post, the author said she did not intend to derail Platner’s campaign, but that she shared concerns about his character. Fox News Digital could not independently confirm the claims from the alleged ex-girlfriend.
PLATNER SUPPORTER KHANNA CALLS SENATE HOPEFUL’S PAST RELATIONSHIPS ‘TOXIC,’ BUT SAYS HE DESERVES ‘REDEMPTION’
Graham Platner addresses the crowd at a YMCA in Blue Hill, Maine, on June 9, 2026, after winning the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate. He will face Republican Sen. Susan Collins in the election. (Matthew Symons for Fox News Digital)
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“There will be more information that comes out,” she claimed.
“If I were a Maine voter seeing the things I’m seeing, I wouldn’t have voted for him, personal experience notwithstanding, because I do not trust him. Why, after all that has come out, would I?”
“People that I have admired are brushing this off, discounting women’s experiences, attacking other journalists,or allowing people in their comment sections to do so. Especially with regard to domestic violence. It is hideous,” she concluded.
Politics
Commentary: In Orange County, a progressive Latina pol beats back well-funded haters — again
On election night, Santa Ana City Council member Jessie Lopez found herself in third place, far behind fellow Democratic council colleague David Penaloza and Republican business owner Mayra Ruiz in the race to represent Orange County’s 68th Assembly District.
Tearful supporters at a California Working Families Party shindig at the Mission Control bar and arcade in downtown Santa Ana hugged Lopez, gifted her flowers and wished her well.
If the 37-year-old was sad, she didn’t show it. Lopez had seen this game play out before.
In 2023, the councilmember decisively beat back a recall attempt funded by Santa Ana’s police union and apartment owners who didn’t like her unabashedly progressive views in a city where centrist Democrats have dominated politics for decades and lefty ones were long ostracized.
I wrote a column shortly after, heralding Lopez’s overwhelming victory as a new era for Latino politics in Orange County, where Latinos make up a third of the population but still wield little power.
Lopez spent the next three years along with her fellow progressive Santa Ana council members shoring up the city’s rent control policies and its immigrant defense fund. Nevertheless, few gave Lopez a chance in her assembly race.
Penaloza — who declined to vote when the council deadlocked on whether to cancel Lopez’s recall election — had the backing of the Orange County and California Democratic Party establishment, from current 68th District Assemblymember Avelino Valencia (who’s running to represent the 34th Senate District) to Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas to Katie Porter, a former Orange County congresswoman who ran unsuccessfully for governor this year.
Penaloza’s campaign mailers and video ads were so ubiquitous these past few weeks that they filled up my mailbox and interrupted my binging of Hulu’s “Vanderpump Villa.”
So did anti-Lopez mailers and commercials, funded by nearly $2.7 million in independent expenditures. Yet Lopez once again beat back her well-funded opposition.
As of Wednesday evening, the latest Orange County Registrar of Voters election results had her in second place — less than 1,000 votes away from Penaloza.
“Voters proved that while money can influence politics, it can’t buy community support,” Lopez said this week as she unsuccessfully tried to enjoy tacos and guacamole at Lola Gaspar in downtown Santa Ana, where well-wishers kept calling her or congratulating the candidate in person. “This race is about the future of California — whether we answer to corporations and insiders or to the hard-working people we’re elected to serve.”
With Orange County Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento easily winning reelection and Unite Here Local 11 co-president Ada Briceño currently coming up short in her bid to represent the 67th Assembly District, which includes parts of Los Angeles County, Lopez may be the sole O.C. Latino progressive running in November for a seat beyond the local level.
Expect Lopez versus Penaloza to become a referendum on whether the leftward trend of Latino voters in Orange County continues — or whether its center holds.
“I’ve chosen my side,” Lopez told me. “I’m proud to stand with working people.”
Then she excused herself — someone else wanted to say what’s up.
Insights
L.A. Times Insights delivers AI-generated analysis on Voices content to offer all points of view. Insights does not appear on any news articles.
Viewpoint
Perspectives
The following AI-generated content is powered by Perplexity. The Los Angeles Times editorial staff does not create or edit the content.
Ideas expressed in the piece
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The column portrays Jessie Lopez as a symbol of an emergent, unapologetically progressive Latino politics in Orange County, arguing that this movement is challenging decades of centrist Democratic dominance and Latino underrepresentation in positions of real power.
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It emphasizes that Lopez’s political credibility comes from having already survived a 2023 recall effort backed by Santa Ana’s police union and apartment owners, which the piece describes as a decisive victory that marked a turning point for left-leaning Latinos in the region.[1]
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The article frames Lopez’s record on the Santa Ana City Council—particularly work to strengthen rent control and expand an immigrant defense fund—as proof that progressive Latinos are now governing, not just organizing, and that these policies are resonating with working-class residents.[1]
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It stresses the scale of opposition Lopez faces, noting that powerful interests and nearly $2.7 million in independent expenditures were deployed against her, and yet she still advanced to November, which the article casts as evidence that grassroots support can overcome big money in politics.
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The column contrasts Lopez’s underdog status with the institutional backing behind rival Democrat David Penaloza, who is aligned with the county and state Democratic establishment, and interprets Lopez’s surge into second place as a rebuke to party insiders who had largely written off her chances.
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It presents Lopez’s own framing of the race as a choice between “corporations and insiders” and “hard-working people,” highlighting endorsements from labor and progressive leaders as reinforcing her identity as a champion for working families rather than entrenched interests.[2]
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The piece suggests that the Lopez–Penaloza matchup will function as a broader referendum on whether Latino voters in Orange County will continue a leftward drift or whether a more centrist orientation will reassert itself, positioning Lopez as the standard-bearer for the progressive side of that divide.
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It further underscores Lopez’s uniqueness by noting that, with some other Latino progressives either safely re-elected at the local level or trailing in their own legislative bids, Lopez may be the only Orange County Latino progressive on the November ballot for higher office, heightening the stakes of her campaign.
Different views on the topic
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Critics of Lopez in Santa Ana have argued that the councilmember’s agenda is too ideologically driven and insufficiently attentive to public safety and fiscal stability, a view that surfaced prominently during the 2023 recall, when backers contended that her policy positions undermined effective governance and community security.[1]
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Recall supporters, including police union and property-owner interests, have maintained that Lopez’s role in strengthening rent control and supporting tenant protections represents an overreach that they believe discourages investment, burdens small landlords, and could ultimately reduce the supply and quality of housing in the city.[1]
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Opponents have further asserted that her stances on issues such as policing and criminal justice skew too far left for parts of the electorate, arguing that more moderate Democrats or centrist candidates are better positioned to balance reform with public safety and to appeal to a broader cross-section of Orange County voters.[1]
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From the perspective of some business-oriented and landlord groups, Lopez’s alignment with organized labor and progressive advocacy organizations, along with endorsements from high-profile national progressives, signals a policy direction they associate with higher regulatory costs, stricter labor standards, and a political climate they view as hostile to business growth.[2]
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Within Democratic circles, the strong institutional support for David Penaloza and other establishment-aligned candidates reflects a competing view that stability, incremental change, and coalition-building with moderates are more effective strategies in competitive areas like Orange County than the confrontational style and ambitious reforms favored by progressive challengers.
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Additionally, some analysts and political operatives point to mixed results for progressive Latino candidates elsewhere in the region as evidence that Lopez’s success is not guaranteed to translate into a broader realignment, and argue that many Latino voters in Orange County remain pragmatic swing voters rather than committed partisans of the left.
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Skeptics of Lopez’s framing of “insiders versus working people” contend that such rhetoric oversimplifies complex policy debates, noting that unions, nonprofits, and progressive political organizations backing her are themselves powerful actors that shape legislation and budgets, and that community interests cannot be neatly divided into grassroots versus establishment.[2]
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Finally, opponents warn that if Lopez’s approach becomes the dominant model for Latino politics in Orange County, it could sharpen ideological polarization inside local Democratic politics, potentially weakening the party’s ability to compete against Republicans in closely contested districts and to assemble broad coalitions needed to pass durable reforms.
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