25 House Dems Just Joined the GOP's Latest Effort to Undermine the ACA

Yesterday marked the sixty-fifth time that House Republicans have tried to repeal or undermine the Affordable Care Act since they regained control in 2011.

The Halt Tax Increases on the Middle Class and Seniors Act, a bill named after a campaign talking point, would repeal the revenue provision of the ACA that increased the income threshold at which individuals may begin deducting unreimbursed medical expenses from their taxable income:

Under the ACA, taxpayers under 65 may deduct medical expenses greater than 10% of their adjusted gross income (AGI).  Seniors over 65 may, however, deduct these expenses after they reach 7.5% of AGI – but this threshold, too, will increase to 10% in 2017.  H.R. 3590 would repeal that portion of the ACA and allow all taxpayers to deduct medical expenses above 7.5% of their income on a permanent basis.  Because it contains no offsets, this bill would add $33 billion to the deficit over the next ten years, with the majority of its regressive tax benefit flowing to taxpayers with incomes above $100,000.

It passed 261 to 147.

Two Republicans—Walter Jones (NC-03) and Reid Ribble (WI-08)—joined Democrats in voting against it.

25 Democrats joined the GOP in voting for it:

Pete Aguilar (CA-31)

Brad Ashford (NE-02)

Ami Bera (CA-07)

Julia Brownley (CA-26)

Steve Cohen (TN-09)

Joe Courtney (CT-02)

Henry Cuellar (TX-28)

John Delaney (MD-06)

Rosa DeLauro (CT-03)

Elizabeth Esty (CT-05)

Gwen Graham (FL-02)

Annie Kuster (NH-02)

John Larson (CT-01)

Dan Lipinski (IL-03)

Michelle Lujan Grisham (NM-01)

Patrick Murphy (FL-18)

Rick Nolan (MN-08)

Donald Norcross (NJ-01)

Bill Pascrell (NJ-09)

Scott Peters (CA-52)

Collin Peterson (MN-07)

Raul Ruiz (CA-36)

Dutch Ruppersberger (MD-02)

Kyrsten Sinema (AZ-09)

Tim Walz (MN-01)