House Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.) is winning praise from the left as she strays from her party's shutdown talking points.
The Georgia congressman is demanding the renewal of the Obamacare tax credits at the center of the government shutdown, warning that premiums will double unless Congress acts.
“I’m absolutely disgusted that health insurance premiums will DOUBLE if the tax credits expire this year,” Greene wrote on X.
With her take on the subsidies, Greene is at odds with Republican leaders who have insisted on passing a "clean" continuing resolution to open the government without any policy attachments.
Democrats have refused to support a funding bill without guarantees that Congress will extend the enhanced tax credits, which are set to expire at the end of the year.
Greene said she is "not a fan" of the Affordable Care Act/Obamacare, and she acknowledged the health care law made insurance unaffordable for her family. But she defended the tax credits that many people, including her own children, rely on to afford the steep premiums on the Obamacare health exchanges.
“I’m going to go against everyone on this issue because when the tax credits expire this year, my own adult children’s insurance premiums for 2026 are going to DOUBLE, along with all the wonderful families and hard-working people in my district,” the Georgia Republican continued.
Democrats including Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer (D-Ny.), the party's leader in the shutdown fight, have highlighted the support from Greene to attack her party as out of touch on healthcare.
“So hold on to your hats,” Schumer said on the Senate floor. “I think this is the first time I said this, but, on this issue, Representative Greene said it perfectly.”
Greene is regarded with contempt by most liberals, making her alignment with Democrats on Obamacare surprising to many.
But this is not the first time that the Trump-supporting Greene has bucked the president and his party, with Greene also supporting a discharge petition to force a vote on the so-called Epstein files as Trump seeks to move on from the controversy. Greene has also criticized Trump at times for moves on foreign policy that she says betray the "America First" creed.
Republicans, including Trump, have said they are willing to negotiate healthcare, but not while the government is shut down.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has dismissed Greene's criticism of the party's healthcare plans as uninformed.
“Congresswoman Greene does not serve on the committees of jurisdiction to deal with those specialized issues, and she’s probably not read that in on some of that, because it’s still been sort of in their silos of the people who specialize in those issues,” Johnson said Tuesday.
