CNN host Brianna Keilar and Rep. Mike Lawler

A segment between a CNN host and a Republican member of Congress grew contentious when the lawmaker was repeatedly pressed on what Republicans plan to do about expiring Affordable Care Act (ACA, or Obamacare) tax credits.

On Tuesday, CNN host Briana Keilar interviewed Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) about the plight facing millions of Americans who rely on ACA tax credits to be able to afford their health insurance premiums. Many Americans are expecting a significant jump in their monthly premiums should the tax credits not be extended, and Senate Democrats recently failed to include an extension in the legislation that recently passed the chamber to end the ongoing federal government shutdown.

That bill is now headed to the House of Representatives before it goes to President Donald Trump's desk, where House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) is planning to oppose it given that the ACA credits weren't extended. Keilar needled Lawler with questions about how Republicans plan to address the coming spike in costs for American families who are insured through ACA exchanges, and appeared to grow frustrated with his lack of a concrete answer.

The increase in premiums, even if you don't get subsidies, is pretty nuts, right?" Keilar said. "... How do you tackle that monumental issue of affordability?"

"Health insurance, obviously, is one of the most complex issues facing the country," Lawler responded, listing off multiple criticisms of the ACA. "... [W]hen you look at health insurance, we need more competition. If you only have three, four or five insurance companies available in your state, and you're not actually allowing the free market to work, that drives up costs. So people should be able to purchase health insurance plans across state lines."

"We have a limited amount of time here," Keilar said. "And I hear your ideas ... But these ideas, a lot of them, they aren't new. Congress has had a lot of time to tackle these, Republicans certainly have this idea of repeal and replace. Replace with what? Right? Speaker Johnson told CNN's Kaitlan Collins a couple of weeks ago that Republicans have proposals ready to address health care subsidies. Have you seen anything of substance that is actually ready to go, rather than just kind of throwing out ideas? Because that's really tough to make into action at this point in time."

"Well, again, I was walking through a series of bills that we can actually bring forth immediately. And I would support, I'm not advocating those proposals—" Lawler said before Keilar interjected.

"Let me — excuse me, because I've let you talk a lot — I want to ask you this," she said. "... Is there anything like on paper that is ready to go, not just ideas of bills that could be introduced, I mean, is there is there stuff that is ready to go out the gate?"

"Well, again, we have multiple committees that deal with health, healthcare and health insurance, Energy and Commerce, and Ways and Means—"

"—And how far are we away from a markup?" Keilar asked, referring to the legislative process of finalizing a bill in committee before it goes to the full floor for a vote.

"Okay, can you let me answer the question?" Lawler snapped. "Both of which have hundreds of bills that have been introduced that can absolutely be brought to markup. When you're talking about these issues, they are extremely complex and trying to unwind, frankly, the damage that has been done to the insurance market by many of the provisions of Obamacare is no small task."

Watch the segment below:

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