Washington’s latest circus of politics produced a predictable result: on December 11, 2025 the U.S. Senate voted down both Democratic and Republican plans to address expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies, leaving millions of Americans facing steep premium increases starting January 1, 2026. The collapse of those bills is not a technicality — it is the direct outcome of partisan grandstanding in a city that rewards drama over real solutions.

Senate Democrats pushed a three?year extension of the COVID?era subsidies and fell short of the 60 votes needed to advance it, while Senate Republicans offered a competing health savings account alternative that also failed to pass. Neither side engaged in serious, honest negotiation to craft market?based, fiscally responsible relief for working families, instead playing to their bases and the cameras.

Make no mistake: Democrats knew exactly what was at stake and made extending Obamacare subsidies the centerpiece of their messaging this season. Their strategy was to demand permanent taxpayer bailouts for insurance companies and then cast anyone who disagrees as cruel — the old leftist playbook of guilt and grievance rather than persuasion and policy.

Worse, independent estimates show that simply papering over the cost with more federal subsidies would add tens of billions to the federal deficit over the next decade, a price tag paid by future generations while the political class pats itself on the back. If Democrats truly cared about patients and affordability they would pursue competition, tort reform, and transparency instead of expanding Washington’s subsidy racket.

While our leaders bicker in marble halls, the national debate has also been hijacked by cultural theater — from resurrections of old proposals to decriminalize sex work in D.C. to every other left?wing cause that distracts from bread?and?butter issues. Local activists and council hearings may have their place, but these policy tangents only underscore a larger point: Democrats are more interested in signaling virtue than fixing the problems that actually keep Americans up at night.

Americans aren’t fooled. Polls taken this month show growing alarm about the affordability of health care, and voters know who controls Congress and who has spent years defending the status quo. If Republicans can frame this fight as a choice between Washington largesse and market freedom, they’ll have the moral high ground and the political advantage.

Now is not the time for cowardice or half?measures. Conservative lawmakers must stop playing defense and offer a real plan that lowers premiums without bailing out Big Insurance, that empowers patients with HSAs and price transparency, and that puts doctors back in charge of care. Hardworking Americans deserve a government that protects their wallets, not a permanent political class whose favorite pastime is taking more of your money in the name of compassion.