For plans beginning Feb. 1, the deadline is Jan. 15.
Dueling votes from Republicans and Democrats failed in the Senate, and House Republicans are set to vote Wednesday on legislation that doesn't address the subsidies at all.
While moderates are mounting a last-ditch effort to advance an amendment for either a one or two-year extension, it's not clear if leaders will allow it to clear the House Rules Committee.
House moderates submitted multiple amendments to the Rules Committee to extend the subsidies in some fashion, including some that offset the substantial costs — the issue that had been a roadblock over the weekend.
But no matter the actual text, the amendment has no chance of passing out of the House—if and when it reaches the floor—because of opposition from conservatives who are staunchly opposed to ObamaCare and the enhanced subsidies. Even if Democrats voted for such an amendment, it would be a poison pill for the overall House GOP health care package.
Still, moderates want an opportunity to go on the record.
"All we ask for is a vote," said Rep. Nick LaLota (R-N.Y.)
As Congress faces the deadline, tensions boiled over on Tuesday as a group of vulnerable House Republicans confronted Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) inside a closed-door meeting Tuesday
The centrists on Friday had been promised a vote when Republican leaders unveiled their partisan health care package, which is expected to hit the floor on Wednesday. But despite "good-faith" negotiations, Johnson said an amendment "was not to be."
The heated talks highlight a larger problem facing GOP leaders as they race to unite a fractious conference around a contentious issue — health care — that's bedeviled them for years.
Multiple GOP lawmakers expressed disappointment that leadership waited until the last week of the legislative year to vote on a health care plan.
"Forty-three days, we weren't here, right?" said Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-N.J.), referring to the House's extended recess during the government shutdown. "We should have been working on it."
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