Credit: (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

WASHINGTON – Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-7th) on Thursday joined 16 other Republicans in the House in voting with every Democrat to extend federal health insurance subsidies for three years, against the wishes of party leaders.

New Jersey’s other Republicans in the House, Reps. Jeff Van Drew (R-2nd) and Chris Smith (R-4th), voted against the bill. Kean is easily at the most risk among the three of losing his seat.

Across the Capitol dome on the same Thursday, the Senate voted, 52-47, to start debating legislation to “terminate the use of U.S. armed forces for hostilities” in Venezuela or against the Venezuelan government, absent official authorization. New Jersey’s senators, Cory Booker and Andy Kim, both Democrats, voted for that bill. That vote followed the U.S. raid, which President Donald Trump orchestrated and oversaw this month, of the oil-rich South American nation.

Before adjourning for the weekend, the Senate voted unanimously to “prominently display” a commemorative plaque to honor police who defended the Capitol five years ago, after Trump, lying that he had won the 2020 presidential election, incited a violent mob to storm the building. Speaker Mike

Johnson, the Louisiana Republican who leads the House, has refused to display the plaque though Congress approved a plan to do so in 2022. The text in the Senate resolution reads: “On behalf of a grateful Congress, this plaque honors the extraordinary individuals who bravely protected and defended this symbol of democracy on January 6, 2021. Their heroism will never be forgotten.”

The trio of votes marked rare rebukes of Trump, delivered at the hands of Democrats, the minority party in both halves of Congress, with help from a sliver of Republicans in a period when the majority party cannot afford many defections.

After an unexpected death last week of a House Republican from California, who was a reliable GOP vote, Republicans can lose just two votes and still pass a given bill. “It’s not a big majority,” Trump said last week when asked about his party’s margin in the House.

Democrats like Rep. Donald Norcross (D-1st) touted the health care vote last week. “Trump will never have to choose between paying for his prescriptions or paying rent, but families across this country do every day.”

Though the votes underscored the fragility of the Republican majorities on Capitol Hill, Congress remains several steps away from passing legislation to extend the health subsidies or to limit Trump’s war-making powers.

Extending the health subsidies for patients enrolled in the 2010 health care law known as Obamacare was Democrats’ primary demand in the fall during negotiations over funding the U.S. government. The party lost its leverage when a group of Senate Democrats cut a deal with Republicans and the White House to end the shutdown, the longest in U.S. history.

The Senate rejected a comparable proposal in December to extend the subsidies for three years, and Senate Majority John Thune of South Dakota, a Republican, is not obligated to take up the legislation the House passed.

Trump, whose primary legislative achievement this term in office is a tax bill that cut funding from national health and food programs, would also have to sign whatever bill Congress passes into law.

The subsidies in question expired at the end of 2025 and patients enrolled in the system are already seeing significant spikes in their coverage costs. In New Jersey, the average increase is 15.9%, from prices last year, according to state officials with the Department of Banking and Insurance.

The scale of the subsidies vary based on age and income of the patient.

In New Jersey’s Seventh congressional district, which Kean represents, the increase would go from $602 to $2,461, an increase of 309%, for a 60-year-old couple making $85,000, according to data from KFF, a nonpartisan health policy research, polling, and news organization.

For a single 40-year-old patient, the increase would be 210%, up from $58 to $180.

In interviews with NJ Spotlight and other publications in the halls of Congress, Van Drew has supported a temporary patch for the Obamacare program. But he has maintained that three years is too long.

“I believe we have a responsibility to do something in the short term,” Van Drew told reporters in December, before Congress broke for its holiday break without passing a bill to extend the subsidies.

“Families who rely on these credits should not be hit with sudden premium increases because we failed to act,” Van Drew said in part in a statement after last week’s vote. “But this bill that we voted on today does nothing to fix what is broken.”

Van Drew added: “Right now, there are several bills on this topic that have been introduced in the House that stand a chance to become law, as well as ongoing discussions in the Senate for a shorter extension paired with real reforms like income caps, tighter eligibility checks, and improvements to open enrollment.”

Many Republicans have criticized the cost of an extension of three years, which the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has estimated would cost $80 billion.

But the House-passed bill could be a negotiating point in the Senate, which could amend the legislation before clearing it back to the House for a final vote.

The Senate vote about war in Venezuela was not entirely unexpected. Congress recently passed into law a defense bill that did away with long-standing legal authorities presidents of both parties had used to deploy troops to foreign lands.

But those sections were bundled into a broader piece of legislation members considered “must pass,” due to the broad sweep of elements contained within.

Passing a stand-alone bill to thwart Trump from more military action in Venezuela is tougher.

Oil executives were at the White House on Friday to meet with Trump about extracting the country’s oil.

“We’re taking back what was taken from us,” Trump said. “Venezuela is going to be very successful.”