The government is shut down. Thousands of federal workers are furloughed or working without pay. National Parks are losing millions in revenue. Air travelers face delays. And U.S. Sen. Mike Lee has staked out an ultraconservative, anti-Obamacare position unsupported by much of the GOP caucus.
What year is it?
More than three weeks into a government shutdown, some Utahns may be experiencing a sense of déjà vu: Twelve years after first making a shutdown stand against the Affordable Care Act, the current closure has offered Lee an opportunity to revive the protest that first thrust him into the national spotlight — and it’s putting him at odds with a growing number of his Republican colleagues.
“Healthcare will keep getting more expensive until we repeal Obamacare,” he wrote on the social media platform X earlier this month. “So Congress should repeal Obamacare. Republicans ran on this for a decade. We shouldn’t run from it now.”
Affordable Care Act funding is once again central to a government shutdown fight as Democrats demand that Republicans agree to a permanent extension of pandemic-era enhanced premium tax credits that millions of Americans — and thousands of Utahns — rely on to pay for marketplace insurance.
The enhanced tax credits were passed in 2021 and expanded who was eligible for subsidies beyond 400% of the poverty level in an attempt to address COVID-era health concerns. They are currently set to expire at the end of the year.
And while most lawmakers debate the possibility of a subsidy extension, with some Republicans now saying such conversations should happen after Senate Democrats agree to a continuing resolution and the government is again open, Lee remains consistent in his call to do away with the program entirely.
Lee’s office did not respond to a request for comment or an interview regarding his calls for a full repeal of the ACA and what sort of legislation — if any — he would support in its stead. Nor did he answer what the potential impact of such a repeal would be on his Utah constituents.
The roots of Lee’s anti-ACA fight
(Evan Vucci | AP) Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, left, and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, in Oct. 2013, a month after Cruz's filibuster on the Senate floor.
In August of 2013, Lee — who was two and a half years into his Senate tenure — held a town hall meeting in Spanish Fork, where he laid out his opposition to the recently-passed Affordable Care Act.
The program was set to take effect in the coming months, and Lee warned the crowd of constituents that if the fullness of the law went into effect, he felt it would be nearly impossible to undo.
“If it does kick in, we will look for every opportunity to stop it, but it will be really, really difficult at that point,” he said at the time. “There are few things more permanent than a really big entitlement program.”
Despite the fact that he had spent much of the summer threatening to shut down the government in an effort, the Tea Party Republican told the crowd he didn’t think a shutdown was necessary: “I have never asked for a shutdown. I don’t want a shutdown. We don’t need a shutdown.”
Less than two months later, however, Lee was instrumental in forcing a closure. He allied with Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, and the pair refused to vote for any continuing resolution that funded Obamacare.
“Democrats and the administration are counting on Republicans withering and waving the white flag of surrender to their takeover of our economy and health care system,” he wrote in a fundraising email a few days into the 2013 government shutdown. “Personally, I’m not ready to give in easily, and I don’t think the American people are either.”
But it didn’t work. While Lee was confident at the time that Republicans would stick together, the gambit fell apart.
“People recognize that the original goal of defunding Obamacare is unattainable at this point,” then-Rep. Chris Stewart of the 2nd Congressional District said as the 16-day shutdown came to a close.
The Affordable Care Act survived — but Lee also made a national name for himself.
“Mike Lee is extraordinary. He is brilliant, deeply principled and utterly fearless,” Cruz, then a freshman lawmaker, said in a statement to The Salt Lake Tribune at the time. “Those are rare — bordering on unique — qualities in Washington. From day one, Sen. Lee has led the fight against Obamacare, and there is no senator more committed to the Constitution than Mike Lee. Utah has done the nation a tremendous service by sending such a passionate warrior for liberty to the U.S. Senate.”
New political landscape, same argument
Twelve years later, more than 24 million Americans get their insurance through the ACA marketplace, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. And Lee hasn’t changed his mind.
“We should admit the truth. Socialized medicine doesn’t work. Obamacare doesn’t work,” he wrote on X earlier this month. “It never will. It should be repealed.”
A major difference today, however, is the fact that so many thousands of his constituents now benefit from the program: Nearly 12% of Utahns receive their health insurance through the ACA, and Utah is the state with the fourth highest Obamacare enrollment in the country, according to a Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute report.
And despite the widespread Republican opposition to the program, the caucus has struggled, even while in control in Washington, to roll back the ACA. In fact, as Lee pushes for repeal, a growing number of his Republican colleagues are beginning to concede to an expansion of the program.
Last month, ten House Republicans signed onto a bill that would extend the enhanced subsidies through January 2027.
“Although it is time to end all COVID-related incentives, we must be mindful of the impact this will have on families covered by the Affordable Care Act,” the bill’s lead sponsor, Virginia Republican Rep. Jen Kiggans, said in a statement. “Congress needs to develop a responsible, sustainable plan before these COVID credits expire. Raising costs for families with little notice, and potentially stripping them of access to care, is simply unacceptable.”
And although none of Utah’s representatives have signed on to cosponsor the bill, several of them have expressed openness to an extension in some form.
(Chris Samuels | The Salt Lake Tribune) U.S. Sen. John Curtis moderates a panel on forest fires at the Conservative Climate Summit at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Friday, Oct. 17, 2025.
At an appearance at the University of Utah last week, Sen. John Curtis said he was “very sympathetic” to the issue of rising premiums and “would love to have a discussion about it.” But first, the senator argued, the shutdown must come to an end.
Rep. Mike Kennedy, a physician representing Utah’s 3rd Congressional District, said earlier this month that he was “very interested in that debate and discussion.”
“I think there’s a way for us to [develop a] glide path to those [credits ending] and it’s something that we should talk about,” he said.
Rep. Blake Moore of the 1st District, meanwhile, said of a potential extension that he would “never say I’m not willing to negotiate.”
All three of them, along with Rep. Celeste Maloy of the 3rd District, said they think the discussion about extending the tax credits should not be part of the shutdown fight, and none have said they would support a permanent extension.
What now?
Utah’s congressional delegation blames Democrats for the expiration, as they were in control of Congress when the enhanced subsidies were originally passed, despite the fact that Republicans currently control all three branches of government.
“They’re panicked because everyone will be stuck with plain, actual Obamacare — which is a dismal failure,” Lee wrote on X last week. “[T]he pandemic-specific add-on they now want to extend is expiring because they themselves set it to expire at the end of this year.”
But if Republicans are serious about letting the subsidies expire, which could cause premiums to skyrocket, what kind of legislation do they think is right to address Americans’ health care needs?
“Exempting employer-provided health insurance from taxation was one of the first issues that inappropriately incentivized the employer-sponsored model over the individual consumer model,” Lee’s website reads. “While immediately ending the tax deduction for healthcare provided through an employer would be unsettling for many Americans, Senator Lee believes its reform must be a topic for debate.”
Additionally, Lee supports the “liberalization” of health savings accounts, which he argues would “allow Americans to save more for their health-care needs, allow them to transfer from jobs without losing their insurance, and equip them to be more active and engaged consumers.”
But twelve years after the 2013 shutdown, most Republicans have moved on from the question of repealing Obamacare, and instead focus on the enhanced tax credits — a fight happening in Lee’s backyard.
On Monday, Politico reported that health care advocacy group Keep America Covered launched a seven-figure ad buy in several states, including Utah, that encourages support for extending the credits.
And the influential conservative billionaire Charles Koch, meanwhile, is investing in an influence campaign of his own, Bloomberg reported this week, calling on Republicans not to concede to Democratic demands without getting concessions on abortion or other GOP health care priorities.
“We have to admit the subsidies have only increased the cost of health care,” Curtis argued last week. “All we’re doing is just increasing the cost and then increasing the subsidy, and it’s untenable. So I think it’s a fair question. I think Republicans need to lay out what we would do.”
Lee has made it clear what he’d prefer — the same thing he wanted in 2013.