Republicans blocked Democrats’ effort to extend the expiring subsidies while Democrats thwarted a G.O.P. proposal to replace them with direct payments for basic health coverage.
The Senate is set to vote later this week on a three-year extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies that Republicans oppose. The G.O.P. has yet to coalesce around an alternative.
Republicans and Democrats released a two-year plan to scale back and extend expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies, but it faces long odds in the G.O.P.-led House.
A small cadre of politically vulnerable Republicans in Congress is breaking with the party to push for the extension of health care tax credits for a program the G.O.P. reviles.
President Trump has not made a final decision. But he is under pressure to address the cost of health care, which for many Americans will jump if the subsidies expire.
The threat of rising Obamacare premiums has been Democrats’ main focus in the public debate, but the president’s defiance of laws, norms and congressional constraints has helped hold them together in opposition.