The Bellevue Compass

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It’s a short one this week, as the House and Senate are both out for Thanksgiving break, but that doesn’t mean there hasn’t been major movement in Washington. We’ll break down below the biggest—or quietest—news we’ve seen coming out of the Capitol. 

What’s Going on in Congress

On Friday, Marjorie Taylor Greene shook up the GOP by announcing her resignation from Congress, effective on January 5th, 2026. This comes after her very public clash with President Trump, of whom she was an ardent supporter, over the release of the Epstein files. Representative Greene (R-GA) joined Democratic lawmakers in demanding the release of the Epstein files and supporting full transparency, criticized the president’s focus on current affairs, and called for action on the expiring Obamacare subsidies. In response, Trump branded her a traitor and effectively withdrew all endorsement, calling her a “ranting lunatic”. This spells trouble for the GOP and particularly Speaker Johnson, who can’t afford to lose more than two votes from Republicans, now that the majority has slimmed. 

Discharge Petitions

Speaking of the Speaker, something interesting is happening on Capitol Hill: discharge petitions, happening at a higher rate than ever. The “discharge petition” is a tool for triggering a vote on legislation that the Speaker of the House refuses to call up, for one reason or another. In the case of the Epstein files, it was pushed off at the behest of President Trump. During Speaker Mike Johnson’s term, there have been five discharge petitions brought to vote—more than in the last 30 years combined. Of the five, three have come from Johnson’s own party members. 

House representatives are discussing using a discharge petition again for bipartisan legislation, this time for sanctions on Russia, which is just a few signatures shy of the 218 required to force a vote. As the president continues to work a deal between Russia and Ukraine, PA Rep Brian Fitzpatrick have notified the Clerk of the House and House leadership that they’ll be putting forth a discharge petition to “force a vote on crushing Russian sanctions immediately upon our return [from the Thanksgiving holiday recess].” There’s potential, too, for forcing a vote on a bill that pairs Russian sanctions with assistance for Ukraine. As of now, it’s to be determined. 

According to Sarah Binder, George Washington University professor who specializes in legislative politics, told Politico, “Despite the fact that it doesn’t succeed very often, it’s out there for an ambitious, organized minority — and, in this case, also disgruntled or concerned majority members, who feel their leadership’s not on the right side of the issue,” Binder said. “So beware the discharge.”

ACA Subsidies

The fight for a reliable healthcare plan to extend—or replace—expiring Obamacare subsidies is heating up. The self-imposed mid-December deadline is creeping up, and multiple members of the GOP have ideas, though no concrete plan has been laid out. According to two people familiar with the plan and granted anonymity to speak to Politico, a plan that President Trump had intended to roll out on Monday was sidelined by Republicans who had more questions, chief among them whether or not the new plan would include abortion restrictions. The Affordable Care Act has always barred federal subsidies from paying for abortions, leaving it up to states to determine whether insurance plans in the open market could cover abortions using other funding. 

Trump’s plan reportedly doesn’t yet address the issue. What it would do is extend the ACA subsidies for two years, place new income caps on individuals receiving subsidies, and require minimum premium payments for Obamacare enrollees. The reason for not unveiling the plan, according to Politico, also has to do with the GOP conference being blindsided by Trump’s willingness to extend the subsidies in the first place. But—there’s a group of Republicans who are definitely open to the extension of the ACA.

Meanwhile, there’s more plans in the works. Trump’s initial idea—that he maintains is the best—is putting money directly into the pockets of consumers buying health insurance, rather than giving it to the insurance companies. Senator Bill Cassidy’s framework lays out direct funding to individual's tax-advantages health savings accounts, which would offset the cost of high premiums in some ACA plans. There’s no cost estimate yet for the proposal. 

Alongside but separate from Cassidy, PA’s Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick has his own plan. The co-chair of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus outlined a few elements he’s eyeing for the proposal, including an extension of the ACA tax credits, with the income limits and required minimum premium payments that Trump’s plan reportedly contain; flexibility for health savings accounts; and a “potentially stalled bipartisan package overhauling the role of pharmaceutical benefit managers”. 

There’s a lot of moving parts, ideas, and loosely-laid plans—it remains to be seen what will shake out when Congress returns in December, and whose plan will get to paper first. 

The Pennsylvania Impact

We spoke at-length last week about the impacts expiring ACA subsidies will have on Pennsylvanians, who are already seeing skyrocketing insurance premiums since the marketplace opened this month. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick’s dual legislative push is significant, both for the state and for intra-party politics in Washington. He’s emerging as a central figure in the two legislative battles now unfolding through the end of the year—healthcare and Russia. 

Fitzpatrick’s willingness to use discharge petitions points to a larger growing frustration among moderate Republicans. His position as, he says, “the most bipartisan member of Congress” is both a strength and a liability for the state on the national stage—The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has specifically targeted Fitzpatrick’s 1st District for 2026. In the face of these moves, will voters in an increasingly competitive swing state reward or punish moderation? Republicans in the Congressional delegation and the state legislature are narrowly defending their majority, with Democrats eager to continue capitalizing on the typical midterm backlash against the party in power. Already, we saw the regularly-scheduled shift during the off-year election, with the Democratic party gaining some ground in various position in the state. 

Pennsylvania doesn’t do direct trade with Russia, so it’s easy to assume there isn’t significant impact on the state as a whole as a result of sanctions. But—it’s important to note that PA is still a manufacturing powerhouse and contributes to a larger global industrial base. Manufacturers in states like Pennsylvania depend on stable global markets and fair competition. Militaristic aggression or economic manipulation from any country disrupts these markets and causes fluctuating costs in energy and supply chain disruption for American manufacturers. 

In short, the function of sanctions is to limit a country’s access to international markets and financial systems, which in practice reduces its ability to fund military activity, thus stabilizing global markets and prices—something important to a state like Pennsylvania, with billions of dollars worth of manufacturing export. The real message behind sanctions is this: aggression has a cost.

🔥 What We’re Watching

Did You Know? The Second Continental Congress proclaimed the first national Thanksgiving on November 1, 1777, in York, Pennsylvania, to celebrate the American victory at the Battle of Saratoga!

Till next time,