December 10, 2025 03:12 PM UTC

Time's Almost Up For Jeff Hurd To Not Be Worthless

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• by: Colorado Pols

As CBS News’ Caitlin Yilek reports, members of Congress on both sides with a conscience or sense of political self-preservation are becoming increasingly vocal about the need to address expiring health insurance premium subsidies before the end of the year, before millions of Americans face premium hikes that could devastate them financially:

Republican moderates in the House revolted against leadership on Wednesday as they seek to force a vote on expiring health insurance premium tax credits — an issue that could have major political ramifications for the party in next year’s elections.

Facing an end-of-year deadline, Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania introduced a discharge petition to try to bring a bill to the floor that would extend the Affordable Care Act subsidies by two years. A handful of GOP moderates quickly signed on…

As of this writing the discharge petition does not include Colorado’s freshmen Rep. Jeff Hurd, who has expended much oxygen on the subject of extending the premium subsidies but has resisted the idea of formally challenging House leadership with a discharge petition, citing his devotion to “regular order.” Politico reports that Hurd is back today with another bill that would extent the credit, but facing the same uncertain prospects:

A bipartisan bill to extend enhanced Obamacare subsidies has attracted 16 Republican co-sponsors, according to an official list obtained first by POLITICO.

The mounting support for the legislation, offered by Reps. Jen Kiggans (R-Va.) and Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), comes as House GOP moderates expressed frustration in a conference meeting Wednesday morning over their leadership’s proposals to address spiking health insurance premiums — without dealing with the expiring tax credits.

In what we hope doesn’t become another intracaucus runaround, one of the best motivators for Speaker Mike Johnson to allow a vote on this latest subsidy bill is the possibility of being sidestepped by the discharge petition Jeff Hurd won’t sign:

Speaker Mike Johnson is also reckoning with the fact that centrist Republicans may join with Democrats to back a so-called discharge petition to circumvent leadership and force a vote on a measure that would extend the subsidies that are otherwise due to lapse Dec. 31. [Pols emphasis]

At this point, it won’t be enough for Hurd to have been on the right side of a futile legislative effort. Thousands of voters in Hurd’s district are counting on the renewal of these subsidies to afford health coverage next year, and are discovering the increase they face right now as they look at renewing coverage on the insurance marketplace. Hurd voted to pass the Republican budget bill that cut the subsidies to begin with, and trying to pass an extension after the fact is an admission that Hurd and his Republican colleagues made a terrible mistake. If we get to the new year and Jeff Hurd hasn’t done everything he legislatively can to redeem himself and loudly condemned fellow Republicans like Rep. Gabe Evans standing in his way, then all Hurd has done is point out his own culpability.

Either way, Jeff Hurd’s slow-walk to redemption is not heroism. It’s not even the bare minimum. This is about fixing a mistake that Hurd and his fellow Republicans made.

This moment requires more than a pro forma attempt at a remedy. More than…a bread sandwich.