NPR | Friday, January 2, 2026 
Congress failed to extend Obamacare subsidies. This Democrat says Trump can save them

Millions of Americans are facing higher health care premiums in the new year after Congress allowed Affordable Care Act subsidies to expire. But earlier this week, a bipartisan group of senators worked to strike a compromise that could resurrect the enhanced ACA premium tax credits — potentially blunting the blow of rising monthly payments for Obamacare enrollees. “There’s a number of Republican and Democratic senators who are seeing what a disaster this will be for families that they represent,” Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., said on Morning Edition Thursday. “That’s the common ground here, and it’s a doable thing.” Welch said he joined a bipartisan call Tuesday — first reported by Punchbowl News — in which a handful of senators charted out a possible health care compromise. “We could extend the credits for a couple of years, we could reform it,” Welch said of the call. “You could put an income cap, you could have a copay, you could have penalties on insurers who commit fraud. You actually could introduce some cost saving reductions that have bipartisan support.” But according to Welch, this legislation is only doable with President Trump’s blessing. “It would require that President Trump play a major role in this, because he has such influence over the Republican majority in the House and even in the Senate,” Welch said. Last fall, Republicans and Democrats fought bitterly over the Obamacare subsidy extension, causing a…Read more