Democratic efforts to keep Obamacare premiums affordable got a major boost on Wednesday when four Republican House members signed a discharge petition to force a vote to extend the premium subsidies for three years. The New York Times called it a “striking rebellion” against Speaker Mike Johnson.

Then, as Democrats and the four Republicans tried to force a quick vote on the discharge petition – in order to keep health insurance premiums from skyrocketing on January 1 – Republicans stopped the vote once it reached 204-203. “Twenty-six House members had not yet voted - and some were actively trying to do so - when the House Republican leadership gaveled the vote closed on Wednesday," Reuters reported. "Democratic Representative Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut said Democrats were trying to vote before the vote was closed.”

In other words, the MAGA Republicans obviously thought they'd lose so they stopped the vote while their killer cruelty was still ahead. It is unclear whether there are other options for Democrats and the four Republicans to try again before the end of the year, Reuters said.

Still, the discharge petition means the House will have to vote on it “within weeks,” according to The Times. While Republican grinches can enjoy inflicting harm in the meanwhile, they may well be digging their own political grave. The delay “will prolong a bitter round of Republican infighting over health care policy that threatens to hurt the party during an election year,” The Times noted. “And it hands Democrats, who spotlighted the expiring subsidies during the long government shutdown fight, more fodder to make their case against the G.O.P. for refusing to address soaring health care costs.”

It’s also more evidence that Johnson “whose grip on his fractious majority has slipped in recent weeks,” has “lost control of the debate over health care,” too, as The Times pointed out.

I’m still having trouble wrapping my head around a major American political party deliberately making health insurance unaffordable for millions of their own constituents, but here we are.