Shumita Basu

MSNOW congressional correspondent Michael Schnell spoke to the network after yesterday's votes failed and said the burden now falls to House Speaker Mike Johnson.

Johnson says a plan is coming from his caucus, but hasn't released any details or said whether it will include some sort of short- or longer-term extension of those subsidies.

A vote on whatever that plan turns out to be could be held next week.

President Trump, meanwhile, says he would rather not see subsidies extended and instead wants money to go directly to people to pay for health plans, though he has not presented a proposal for how that might happen.

Congress leaves for the holiday break at the end of next week.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

has continued to stir controversy in Congress over this past week.

First, there was the CDC decision to roll back the decades-long Hep B jab recommendation for newborns made last week.

Then on Wednesday, Kennedy faced bipartisan criticism for limiting public participation in some of the changes his department is making.

That same day, Democratic Congresswoman Haley Stevens filed formal impeachment articles against him, a move that's bound to fail but might boost her profile for an upcoming Senate run.

Kennedy has become one of the most prominent figures in the Trump administration, and there's been extensive coverage of him and his influence.

But Atlantic staff writer Michael Shearer recently profiled Kennedy and spent a significant amount of time with him.

And he came away with a portrait that really gets at who Kennedy is and what drives him.

Shearer and Kennedy spoke about the losses that Kennedy experienced at a young age.

He was nine years old when his uncle, President John F. Kennedy, was assassinated, and he was 14 years old when his father, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, was also shot and killed.

He's spoken openly about his struggles with addiction.

He first tried heroin when he was 15 years old.

He's been in recovery for decades now, and he still attends 12-step meetings regularly.

These early experiences, Shearer says, have instilled a certain fierceness in him, a doggedness in his beliefs and in his mission.

This worldview has led to Kennedy questioning and undermining the accepted scientific consensus around vaccines, something that Shearer pressed him on during their conversations.