Trump faces headwinds on Venezuela, health care; Republicans break rank

President Donald Trump‘s attack on Venezuela and threats to other countries, as well as concerns about affordability, exposed fractures within the congressional GOP this week at the start of a challenging midterm election year.

Trump avoided defeat when most House Republicans declined to override the first of two vetoes of his presidency, which spiked a pair of nonpartisan infrastructure bills that would’ve benefited Colorado and Florida.

But it was otherwise a less-than-stellar week for Trump on Capitol Hill, though Republicans are projecting confidence.

“This isn’t an unusual situation, particularly coming into midterm elections, where you have senators that are in tough situations,” Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., said Friday on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”

A senior White House official said the defectors represent just a “tiny fraction” of congressional Republicans.

“Republicans aren’t always going to have the same views as the president,” the White House official said.

Still, cracks in GOP unity emerged on multiple fronts.

On Thursday, 17 House Republicans broke ranks and voted with Democrats on legislation to extend enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits for three years, despite opposition from House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana and the widespread unpopularity of the Obamacare subsidies within the Republican party.

The White House official said Trump opposes a three-year extension, but the vote was not viewed internally as a defeat.

The enhanced tax credits were first enacted under President Joe Biden in 2021 and have been a focal point of Democratic messaging on health care and affordability. The credits expired at the end of 2025, resulting in sharply higher premiums for millions of Americans who get their health insurance on ACA marketplaces.

Many of those who supported the bill to extend the tax credits were among the most vulnerable Republicans in the 2026 midterms.

“I have long opposed the damage the Unaffordable Care Act has done to our country, but I will not watch Wisconsinites lose health care because Democrats let their own law collapse,” Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis., who voted for their extension, posted on X. Van Orden is running for reelection in a toss up district, according to Cook Political Report.

Earlier on Thursday, five Senate Republicans bucked the president and joined Democrats on a procedural vote that could rein in his ability to take military action in Venezuela. Trump responded in a Truth Social post that “Republicans should be ashamed” of the senators who supported the preliminary vote and said they “should never be elected to office again.”

Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., one of the members called out by Trump, declined to comment on the president’s comments on Thursday. When asked if he was open to changing his stance on subsequent War Powers votes, Young told reporters, “Why would I?”

The White House, however, said there is a “significant” chance future votes on the resolution might go the president’s way.

“A number of these…