ACA extension has no chance of making it through the Senate, says Sen. James Lankford
December 18, 2025 • 4m 52s
? (Anchor)
00:00.590
president
trump
touting
his
accomplishments
last
night
and
his
address
to
the
nation
one
touching
on
the
ongoing
battle
over
extending
obamacare
subsidies
happening
on
capitol
hill
? (Anchor)
00:11.790
joining
us
right
now
to
talk
about
this
and
much
more
is
republican
senator
james
lankford
and
senator
thank
you
for
being
with
us
yesterday
for
moderate
republicans
joined
the
democrats
in
kind
of
pushing
to
make
sure
that
there
is
going
to
be
a
vote
that
comes
in
early
january
? (Anchor)
00:27.030
at
least
on
the
floor
of
the
house
to
extend
the
ACA
subsidies
what
? (Anchor)
00:31.310
chance
does
that
have
of
making
it
through
the
senate
James Lankford (Senator from Oklahoma)
00:35.430
it
it
actually
doesn't
because
it's
the
same
vote
we've
already
had
in
the
senate
this
is
a
democrat
proposal
to
say
let's
just
take
the
current
policies
now
and
just
extend
them
out
for
three
years
remembering
that
what
what
this
really
is
is
not
the
obamacare
subsidies
these
James Lankford (Senator from Oklahoma)
00:49.550
are
subsidies
on
top
of
the
subsidies
that
were
done
during
covid
during
that
time
for
an
emergency
basis
on
it
so
James Lankford (Senator from Oklahoma)
00:57.030
they're
looking
to
be
able
to
just
say
let's
pretend
the
covid
pandemic
is
still
happening
let's
contend
these
subsidies
out
no
changes
no
reforms
no
caps
unlimited
amount
of
money
income
that
you
could
have
personally
that
you
could
still
get
these
subsidies
so
a
lot
of
issues
James Lankford (Senator from Oklahoma)
01:12.630
that
in
the
senate
has
already
said
no
that's
the
wrong
way
to
go
is
to
pretend
the
covic
pandemic
is
still
happening
let's
actually
talk
about
how
James Lankford (Senator from Oklahoma)
01:19.670
are
we
what
are
we
doing
i
should
say
on
trying
to
be
able
to
reduce
the
amount
that
people
have
to
personally
pay
so
our
direction
wasn't
sitting
at
the
insurance
companies
and
saying
this
is
the
help
during
the
pandemic
it
was
trying
to
get
assistance
to
individuals
that
need
James Lankford (Senator from Oklahoma)
01:32.950
the
assistance
the
most
? (Anchor)
01:35.270
understood
and
i
would
go
so
far
as
to
say
i
think
some
of
the
republicans
who
signed
on
for
that
are
not
interested
in
simply
extending
the
ACA
subsidies
for
another
three
years
without
any
changes
but
there
doesn't
seem
to
be
any
sort
of
mix
of
what
republicans
are
talking
? (Anchor)
01:54.790
about
and
what
democrats
are
talking
about
where
you
make
some
of
those
changes
but
you
extend
some
of
these
ACA
subsidies
for
a
year
or
or
maybe
a
little
longer
beyond
that
while
you
work
through
the
changes
that
you
want
to
make
to
the
system
? (Anchor)
02:08.310
i
think
there
are
plenty
of
republicans
not
only
in
the
house
but
in
the
senate
who
are
worried
about
the
political
backlash
that
will
come
when
rates
go
up
next
year
and
i
realize
these
subsidies
are
only
for
twenty
two
to
twenty
four
million
people
not
for
all
americans
but
? (Anchor)
02:21.950
there
are
massive
increases
in
healthcare
costs
that
are
going
to
go
up
to
hit
those
people
and
lots
of
others
and
i
think
there
are
plenty
of
republican
politicians
who
are
worried
about
getting
blamed
for
those
higher
costs
sure
James Lankford (Senator from Oklahoma)
02:34.310
yeah
there
there
is
real
dialogue
about
what
can
we
do
to
be
able
to
deal
with
these
subsidies
and
the
high
cost
premium
that
will
spike
for
those
above
four
hundred
percent
of
poverty
just
to
be
clear
you
you
had
about
ten
million
people
in
obamacare
at
the
beginning
of
the
James Lankford (Senator from Oklahoma)
02:47.990
biden
administration
they
added
all
these
subsidies
in
and
then
you
had
about
twenty
one
million
people
at
in
in
subsidies
for
the
marketplace
by
the
end
of
his
administration
so
he
James Lankford (Senator from Oklahoma)
02:57.910
doubled
the
number
of
people
in
the
marketplace
in
the
way
that
he
did
it
was
just
uncapped
it's
unlimited
it
used
to
be
four
percent
in
poverty
down
would
get
some
kind
of
subsidies
this
was
on
top
of
that
so
we're
not
talking
about
people
four
hundred
percent
of
poverty
and
James Lankford (Senator from Oklahoma)
03:11.110
down
they're
still
going
to
be
covered
that's
the
vast
majority
of
people
in
the
marketplace
you're
talking
James Lankford (Senator from Oklahoma)
03:15.630
about
people
above
four
hundred
percent
of
poverty
the
subsidies
that
were
put
on
top
of
them
so
that's
the
specific
area
we're
talking
about
and
what
needs
to
be
done
those
folks
used
to
pay
let's
say
twelve
hundred
dollars
a
month
then
with
the
subsidies
they
went
to
paying
James Lankford (Senator from Oklahoma)
03:29.630
eighty
dollars
a
month
now
they
don't
want
to
go
back
to
paying
twelve
hundred
to
two
thousand
a
month
because
the
marketplace
continues
to
accelerate
James Lankford (Senator from Oklahoma)
03:36.830
in
my
state
in
oklahoma
the
marketplace
has
gone
up
two
hundred
percent
in
six
years
at
the
same
time
commercial
insurance
has
gone
up
twenty
nine
percent
so
republicans
are
simply
saying
there
is
a
structural
problem
in
the
marketplace
that
it
would
accelerate
so
much
faster
James Lankford (Senator from Oklahoma)
03:52.430
than
the
commercial
insurance
we
should
take
a
look
at
that
and
find
out
what
the
problem
is
rather
than
just
sending
more
tax
dollars
over
and
over
again
and
pretending
there's
not
a
problem
? (Anchor)
04:01.510
that's
a
fair
argument
but
the
idea
that
it
has
taken
this
long
to
kind
of
take
a
look
at
it
i
think
that's
where
you
have
a
political
problem
the
idea
that
OK
we're
going
to
take
a
look
at
it
but
we're
taking
a
look
at
it
as
these
premiums
are
going
up
for
people
and
they're
? (Anchor)
04:16.190
seeing
that
hit
them
in
their
in
their
pocketbooks
James Lankford (Senator from Oklahoma)
04:19.470
it
will
i
would
only
tell
you
we
have
taken
a
look
at
a
lot
of
things
for
a
long
time
trying
to
get
bipartisan
agreement
in
the
senate
is
not
as
simple
as
it
looks
we
have
bipartisan
agreement
for
instance
on
pharmacy
benefit
managers
and
what's
happening
behind
the
scenes
James Lankford (Senator from Oklahoma)
04:31.390
that's
driving
up
the
cost
of
pharmaceuticals
and
pushing
out
independent
pharmacies
all
around
the
country
James Lankford (Senator from Oklahoma)
04:37.630
we
have
bipartisan
agreement
on
that
that
moved
through
the
finance
committee
that
i
serve
on
unanimously
we've
not
been
able
to
get
that
across
the
floor
so
some
things
are
tougher
than
it
looks
when
you
try
to
get
got
to
get
sixty
hard
headed
people
all
in
one
room
and
to
be
James Lankford (Senator from Oklahoma)
04:50.670
able
to
agree
on
something
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