A rare crack in Republican unity opened up Thursday as four GOP senators crossed the aisle to support a Democratic measure extending enhanced ObamaCare subsidies—an unexpected move that immediately stirred political chatter heading into 2026.
Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) backed a Democratic proposal to continue the boosted Affordable Care Act premium subsidies for another three years. The plan, introduced by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, drew all 47 Democratic votes but still fell short of the 60 needed, failing 51–47, according to The Hill.
Even in defeat, the vote put the GOP’s internal tensions on full display. Collins and Sullivan—both on the ballot in 2026—now find themselves at the center of a brewing fight as Democrats eye their seats in a push to reclaim the Senate.
Collins had kept her decision quiet until the last moment, telling reporters earlier in the week that she wanted her staff to give the proposal a thorough look before committing. She also rolled out her own plan Monday with Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio), offering a narrower two-year extension capped at households earning under $200,000 and requiring lower-income enrollees to pay at least $25 a month.
Murkowski and Hawley have also pushed for broader marketplace reforms, signaling there’s more Republican appetite for health-care tweaks than party leadership typically acknowledges.
Earlier in the day, the same four Republicans backed a separate proposal from Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) that would have shifted subsidy funds into health savings accounts to help people cover out-of-pocket costs. That plan also went down.
Hawley put the sentiment bluntly. “I’m really an all-of-the-above-approach kind of guy. At this point, I think we need to do everything we can to bring down the cost of premiums,” he said, adding that he’d support a range of fixes—even ones that never made it to the floor this week.
“Let’s take some votes and show people that we want to do all that we can,” he said. “If you talk to people, what they’re going to say is their health care costs are out of control.”
The votes didn’t change policy, but they changed the political landscape. Democrats now have fresh ammunition to argue Republicans are divided on a core pocketbook issue, while the four GOP senators are trying to frame their breaks from the party line as a response to rising costs back home. How that plays with voters is now the open question heading into a tense election cycle.
