Southern California lawmakers back various efforts to extend health subsidies

Funding talks, coupled with concerns about access to health care , are becoming a bit of a repetitive theme in Washington, D.C.

This time, it’s an Affordable Care Act era health insurance tax credit set to expire at the end of the year that is crescendoing into an increasingly loud focal point amid the ongoing budget conversations to avoid a looming government shutdown.

The premium tax credit is meant to offset premium costs for health insurance purchased through the Affordable Care Act’s marketplace. The subsidies were increased and extended during the Biden administration, but are set to expire at the end of this year.

Whether to extend them — and for how long — is dividing lawmakers, including in Southern California.

In one corner, there is a group of conservatives who have prom