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House Republicans divided over Obamacare as GOP eyes fix after shutdown
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House Republicans are in preliminary discussions on a healthcare package, as Obamacare continues to be the central sticking point in the ongoing government shutdown.
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said on Thursday that lawmakers have begun discussions in «informal working groups» on what healthcare reform, aimed at lowering ballooning medical costs, would look like.
But the fight over Obamacare, also known as the Affordable Care Act (ACA), continues to drive a wedge within the House GOP. At the heart of the issue are Obamacare subsidies enhanced significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic — enhancements that are set to expire at the end of this year without congressional action.
Democrats have been demanding that any deal to end the shutdown be paired with an extension of those credits. And Republicans, while united in wanting to keep the shutdown and Obamacare two separate issues, are divided over how to handle that issue once the shutdown ends.
‘THE PANDEMIC’S OVER’: GOP, DEM SENATORS SPAR ON CAMERA OVER COSTLY OBAMACARE SUBSIDIES
House Speaker Mike Johnson, Reps. Lisa McClain and Steve Scalise, left to right, during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Oct. 16, 2025. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
On one side of the divide are members of the House Freedom Caucus, who have signaled vehement opposition to any straightforward extension of the Obamacare credits.
«What we really need to do is stop talking about the COVID subsidies, because it’s not working, and the entire system that they’re based on is a complete and total Titanic that’s going down,» said Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., a member of the conservative group. «Why would we throw any more bad money after this sinking ship?»
But some Republican lawmakers are floating a one-year extension as a way to buy Congress more time to find an off-ramp to eventually ending the Obamacare subsidies — something all GOP lawmakers who spoke with Fox News Digital agreed on.
DEMOCRATS BLAME GOP FOR OBAMACARE WOES TIED TO PANDEMIC-ERA SUBSIDIES
«I am not at all in love with the ACA or Obamacare. I get the concern that many of the members have with it. But as I’ve said before, if you don’t have something good to replace it with, it is political insanity, and it’s just the wrong thing to do — to let it lapse, get rid of it and have nothing else because the rates are going to go up a lot,» said Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J., who styled himself a «populist conservative.»
He called on Republicans to «hold our nose, have a one-year extension, make some minor to moderate modifications.»
«And during that year, instead of waiting till the last week or the last few days during that year, to really hammer out something that’s real, that isn’t B.S., where we are offering people health care, where it’s relatively affordable, and then we can make the big change that people want to make,» Van Drew said.
He’s one of 14 House Republicans backing a bipartisan bill, led by Rep. Jen Kiggans, R-Va., to extend the Obamacare subsidies for one year.
Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., leaves the Capitol Hill Club after a meeting of the House Republican Conference in Washington, March 25, 2025 (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla., another backer, pointed out that Democrats created the enhancements and their 2025 expiry.
«I think we need it, because there is a cliff that was created by the Democrats,» he said of the extension. «A lot of American families are going to be hurt by it. So I am in favor of extending it for a year and then looking at ways that we can, number one, fix Obamacare, and two, a way to end the subsidies, but not in a cliff-like fashion.»
Burlison suggested heavy opposition from the House Freedom Caucus, however.
«It’s not only a non-starter, but because of the conversations that we’ve had, we would consider it a betrayal,» he said.
Freedom Caucus member Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., similarly anticipated the «vast majority of Republicans» would be against the bipartisan bill. However, he left the door open to some extension, provided a plan was in place to end Obamacare already.
OBAMACARE SUBSIDIES AT CENTER OF DEM SHUTDOWN FIGHT ‘FUEL’ HEALTHCARE COST INFLATION, CONSERVATIVES SAY
«At the end of the day, the subsidies are going away. It’s just a matter of how quickly. They are going to be phased out. Now, do you want it to be a hard stop, or do you want to phase out? I think the hospitals and the healthcare infrastructure in Nashville would prefer a phase-out, and I totally understand that,» Ogles said. «Quite frankly, fiscal conservatives are not going to stand for more subsidies that were designed for a period of time during COVID. COVID is over.»
Van Drew told Fox News Digital that Republicans’ chances of keeping the House majority in 2026 hinged on a healthcare deal.
«If you lose the majority, you’ve got nothing. You’re a spectator in the sport. You’re not even involved. So to me, keeping the majority is extremely important, and we’ve got to work to compromise on that,» he said.
He and Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, R-Pa., another sponsor of the one-year extension, both floated income caps and reforms to the pricing middlemen known as pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs.
Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J., participates in a House Judiciary Committee markup in Washington, May 16, 2024. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
A House Republican familiar with leadership dynamics suggested that income caps for Obamacare are part of the discussion on a potential healthcare package.
That House Republican also suggested that tighter «guardrails» like income verification standards for government healthcare could also be on the table.
«If you have a right to a benefit, you have a responsibility to prove you are eligible for that benefit,» they said. «That would save a ton of dollars.»
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House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., floated several ideas up for discussion but signaled that any moves to extend Obamacare would require significant changes to the system first.
«You’ve seen additional ideas on health savings accounts and pooling together amongst small businesses, other ideas like PBM reform,» he told reporters earlier this week. «So all the things we’ve been working on are focused on lowering costs for families as opposed to just shoveling more money into a failed, broken system.»
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Elecciones en Chile: voto útil, voto silencioso y decisiones de última hora, las variables que pueden torcer la balanza el domingo
El voto de último momento
«Triple empate»
José Antonio Kast, en su cierre de campaña el martes en Santiago. Foto: BLOOMBERG
El disruptivo y ultraderechista Johannes Kaiser busca un espacio en la segunda vuelta en Chile. Foto: BLOOMBERGEl voto oculto
El nuevo libro de Michelle Obama, The Look, es muchas cosas.
Es uno de los libros más vendidos en Amazon. Es un álbum de fotos lleno de moda en papel cuché. Es la historia de las expectativas que se depositaron en la primera mujer negra en ejercer el cargo de primera dama. Y es la tercera entrega de una trilogía de libros de Obama enfocados en la realización personal, que incluyensus memorias, su libro de consejos sobre cómo superar la adversidad y, esta vez, una meditación sobre el poder de la ropa.
Leé también: Aunque fue varias veces tapa de Vogue, Michelle Obama explicó por qué no habló de moda cuando era Primera Dama
Pero, sobre todo, es un documento histórico que capta un momento clave en la evolución del papel de primera dama, cuando la ropa se convirtió en una parte aún mayor de la comunicación. Un momento en el que, en otras palabras, la vestimenta se convirtió en una parte oficial del trabajo. Eso más importante de lo que pueda parecer. The look, el libro de Michelle Obama. (Foto: @michelleobama)
Al fin y al cabo, Obama fue la primera primera dama que tuvo en la nómina una estilista -o “ayuda de cámara”, como llamaban a Meredith Koop- en el Ala Este, empleada para ayudar a definir la estrategia visual de la primera dama en cada ocasión, ya fuera jugar hula-hula en público hasta asistir a los grandes momentos de boato.
Una nueva visión del estilismo en la Casa Blana
Antes de que los Obama llegaran a la Casa Blanca, primeras damas como Jacqueline Kennedy, Nancy Reagan y Hillary Clinton habían trabajado con algún diseñador en sus atuendos para los bailes inaugurales o las cenas de Estado, pero la relación era más de gracia y favor que un asunto estructural. Se trataba más de pompa y decoro que de diplomacia, y las primeras damas solían elegir a un diseñador (Oleg Cassini, James Galanos, Oscar de la Renta) para quedarse con él.
Sin embargo, después de Obama, Melania Trump y Jill Biden contrataron cada una a un estilista -Hervé Pierre para Trump y Bailey Moon para Biden- una figura que actuaba como enlace entre las marcas de moda y el ala este. Trabajaron con muchos diseñadores para casi todas las ocasiones, a menudo con un conjunto específico de prioridades políticas en mente. Se había creado un nuevo patrón, y se convirtió en la norma.
Wintour con Michelle Obama a quien le dio cuatro tapas de Vogue cuando era primera dama. (Foto: AFP PHOTO/Stan HONDA).
Por qué ocurrió eso es, en gran parte, el subtexto de The Look, publicado por Crown la semana pasada, y por eso el libro es importante. Pone al descubierto, de una forma sin precedentes (y fácil de leer), cómo un guardarropa se convirtió en vehículo sutil de poder político.
En cierto modo, era inevitable.
Como la primera mujer negra en ser primera dama, Obama sabía que todos sus movimientos iban a ser analizados, incluido su atuendo. Tenía que representar a todos los bandos de un país díscolo, y debía hacerlo como la primera primera dama de la era de las redes sociales. La capacidad del mundo para ver y seguir cada una de sus apariciones era mucho mayor que nunca, y la capacidad del mundo para comentarlas también era mayor. Su imagen -las fotos que circulaban por Instagram, Twitter y Facebook- importaba como nunca antes y, por tanto, importaban las decisiones que tomaba al crearla. En lo tocante a la ropa, lo que estaba en juego había cambiado.
El estilo Michel Obama: una declaración política
Como admite Obama en el libro, se ha especulado sobre el propósito detrás de muchas de sus elecciones sartoriales como primera dama en varios libros, como Everyday Icon, de Kate Betts, y Michelle Obama: First Lady of Fashion and Style de Susan Swimmer (por no mencionar los numerosos artículos de críticos como yo). Pero esta es la primera vez que aborda abiertamente el tema de su estilo y da crédito al equipo –Koop, la estilista; los peluqueros Yene Damtew, Njeri Radway y Johnny Wright; el maquillador Carl Ray– que la ayudó a hacerlo realidad.
Así, escribe, la decisión de elegir a Jason Wu, entonces un joven diseñador neoyorquino de origen taiwanés relativamente desconocido, para que diseñara su vestido del baile de inauguración tenía que ver con demostrar “que iba a defender a personas y voces y talentos que con demasiada frecuencia se pasaban por alto”. Barak y Michele Obama en el baile de inauguración de la Pesidencia en 2009 (Doug Mills/The New York Times)
Personas y voces, continuó, que “representaban el talento diverso del diseño de moda estadounidense que yo quería mostrar al mundo”.
De ahí los aproximadamente 100 atuendos diferentes de la época de Obama como primera dama que se conmemoran en The Look, eso sin contar lo que llevó durante las campañas o después de que los Obama abandonaran la Casa Blanca. Es mucha ropa para que la lleve o compre una sola mujer en solo ocho años.
Para una Primera Dama, vestirse es un trabajo
Sobre todo cuando entre los criterios para elegir cada look también se incluía la proyección diplomática, como cuando Obama recurría a un diseñador cuya trayectoria tendía un puente entre Estados Unidos y uno de sus aliados para una cena o visita de Estado, tanto mejor para, como ella escribe, “mostrar respeto”. (Véase, por ejemplo, el vestido de Tom Ford, diseñador estadounidense que trabaja en Londres, que se puso en la visita de Estado al Reino Unido; o el vestido de Versace que lució en la cena de Estado de Italia). Michelle Obama lució un vestido de Atelier Versace color oro rosado en la cena de Estado en honor al primer ministro italiano, Matteo Renzi, en octubre de 2016 (Al Drago/The New York Times)
Sobre todo cuando también había que tener en cuenta cuestiones prácticas: no solo las costumbres de los distintos países, sino el hecho de que la ropa no debía restringir sus movimientos, tenía que permitirle abrazar a alguien si lo deseaba y tenía que ser invulnerable al maquillaje que pudiera manchar durante el contacto.
Obama describe la complejidad del vestuario de una Primera Dama (Landon Nordeman/The New York Times)
Aunque Obama escribe sobre todo ello en The Look, así como sobre las críticas a menudo racistas que recibió por llevar vestidos sin mangas, un tema que evita es el del dinero. Señala que intentó introducir “marcas asequibles pero a la moda en mi armario”, como J. Crew, pero es innegable que adquirir tantos trajes supone un gasto enorme, una carga que recae en la primera familia, no el Estado. Una de las formas de gestionar este costo es que un diseñador “regale” al país un traje para un acto público importante, lo que significa que, aunque la primera dama pueda ponerse un vestido una o dos veces, este pasa al archivo nacional o a una biblioteca presidencial y no a su armario.
Aun así, eso no cambia lo que se desprende de The Look. Lo mucho que Obama adaptó su propio estilo al que creía que el país necesitaba se hizo evidente una vez que abandonó la Casa Blanca, con sus subsiguientes giras de libros y experimentos de moda relacionados. ¡Un esmoquin canadiense! ¡Botas Balenciaga hasta el muslo! ¡Un Chanel recién salido de la pasarela! Michelle por Bottega Veneta para el show de Jennifer Hudson, en diciembre de 2024 (Foto: AFP)
Y eso subraya aún más el objetivo de este libro: para cualquier primera dama, elegir las (muchas) prendas que definirán su titularidad no es algo que ocurra por casualidad. Ni debería serlo: es trabajo.
(*) Vanessa Friedman ha sido la directora de moda y la crítica jefe de moda del Times desde 2014.
The New York Times, Michelle Obama
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Legendary college football broadcaster Paul Finebaum is taking heat for allegedly being a «Trump-hating» weak Republican amid widespread rumors that he is planning a run for the U.S. Senate in Alabama.
The 70-year-old ESPN host, best known as the foremost authority on SEC football, has not yet announced an official run. However, he has revealed he is intrigued by the idea of such a run and admitted in an interview with OutKick to «thinking about it constantly.»
For some Republican insiders in Alabama, this has been sufficient to start raising alarms about why they believe Finebaum would be a poor choice for a Senate candidate.
Dale Jackson, a prominent Alabama radio politics talk show host, told Fox News Digital that though «Finebaum is a radio legend and a fixture in the South … nobody knows what he believes.»
TOMMY TUBERVILLE PRAISES PAUL FINEBAUM AS ANALYST CONSIDERS SENATE RUN AFTER CHARLIE KIRK ASSASSINATION
Paul Finebaum, radio and ESPN television personality, gets ready to speak on television near activities outside the Superdome before the College Football Playoff National Championship game in New Orleans on Monday, January 13, 2020. (Ken Ruinard / staff via Imagn Content Services, LLC)
«The guy is a legend,» Jackson continued. «[But] I’ve been doing radio and talk radio for almost 20 years in Alabama, and I couldn’t tell you what Paul Finebaum knows or believes about anything political.»
«The minute he starts talking about what he believes. It’s going to be picked apart, and I don’t know if he’s necessarily ready for what that means,» said Jackson.
Finebaum’s record on political stances is mixed. In 2016, he stated, «this country is not oppressing Black people,» but then later apologized on ESPN, saying his «eyes are wider open,» according to RealClearPolitics.
In 2017, he remarked that President Donald Trump «does behave like a child,» per FanBuzz.
In 2020, Finebaum went on the record praising a video in which Nick Saban encouraged COVID-19 social distancing and masking, according to 247Sports. He also spoke favorably of Saban’s decision to lead an athletes’ social justice march in which many players wore Black Lives Matter shirts, according to local outlet Bham Now.
Finebaum told the outlet that «Nick Saban leading that march was one of his finer moments»
«The video was very powerful. There was a lot of blowback. I had Alabama fans call in and say they’ll never support the team again. We all hear the same arguments about Black Lives Matter,» Finebaum went on. «I say that because he did it without making a political statement. He didn’t overdo it, he did it quietly. He was supporting his players, and to me that’s the most important thing. It’s what a coach is supposed to do, and I think that, to me, speaks very well of him. In a state like Alabama, it’s not the same as if he was doing it in Michigan, but he didn’t let it affect him.»
Yet, Finebaum told OutKick that he voted for Trump in 2024 and that it was Charlie Kirk’s murder that is motivating him to seriously consider running for the Senate.
«It’s hard to describe, not being involved in politics, how that affected me and affected tens of millions of people all over this country. And it was an awakening,» Finebaum said of Kirk’s assassination.
ESPN STAR PAUL FINEBAUM RECALLS LEANING ON TIM TEBOW FOLLOWING CHARLIE KIRK’S ASSASSINATION
Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., arrives for a Senate Republican Caucus luncheon at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on April 2, 2025. (Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Finebaum also said in the interview that if Trump told him, «Paul, you’re my guy,» he would find it «impossible to tell him no.»
«There’s no way I could. I would tell him yes,» he said.
If he enters the race, Finebaum would be running to replace another football star, Sen. Tommy Tuberville, best known for leading Auburn University in an undefeated season crowned by an SEC championship in 2004. Tuberville, who has been an outspoken conservative voice in the Senate since his election in 2021, is seeking the Alabama governorship in 2026.
Others already declared in the Alabama Senate race include state Attorney General Steve Marshall and Alabama Republican Rep. Barry Moore.
Jackson said that while Tuberville had a prior record of political stances, he sees Finebaum as an «unknown entity.»
«Finebaum is basically just like I’m famous. I’m a big-time radio guy, people like me. Why can’t I be senator? And it’s just kind of an odd thing,» said Jackson.
When contacted for comment, Finebaum told Fox News Digital, «I will circle back when I have something substantive to say.»
For his part, Tuberville has spoken highly of Finebaum.
«Paul is smart. He loves the country,» Tuberville said on the «War Room» podcast. «Again, been a friend of mine for a long time. I have not talked with him about it. I did an interview with him, 30 minutes, about two months ago, face to face. It went well.»
«I tell you, he’s got 100% name ID in Alabama. He’d have a lot of big people behind him. He would be a force in the race if he decided to get into it. … Paul is a good guy, a good friend.»
Some voices, meanwhile, have been much more critical of the possibility of a Finebaum campaign. A national Republican strategist who works on U.S. Senate races told Fox News Digital, «You can’t hate President Trump and Republican voters and win a Republican primary.»
ESPN STAR PAUL FINEBAUM SAYS NETWORK AXED POTENTIAL TRUMP INTERVIEW IN 2019
Paul Finebaum and Tim Tebow take a selfie on the set of SEC Nation before the game between the Mississippi State Bulldogs and the Arkansas Razorbacks on Oct. 8, 2022 at Wade Davis Stadium in Starkville, Mississippi. (Michael Wade/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
«Paul Finebaum trashed President Trump, promoted tyrannical masking during COVID and proclaimed his support for Black Lives Matter,» said the strategist, adding, «Finebaum’s experience as a sports analyst doesn’t translate into analyzing his own political prospects apparently. This Trump-hating RINO [Republican-in-name-only] has virtually zero chance of winning an Alabama GOP primary.»
Former state Rep. Ed Henry, who served as then-candidate Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign co-chair for Alabama, told Fox News Digital that when he heard Finebaum was considering a Senate run, «I chuckled, because I thought, ‘Oh great, we have another person in this race who caves every time pressure is put on him.’»
«I think he’s a great guy; he’s said some good things. But when the pressure is on, he breaks, he caves, he buckles, and that’s not what we need,» Henry added.
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The former representative said that what Alabama needs is «somebody who has been through fire, who has been tested, who has found to be true to their word.»
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