Republicans blast Obamacare on Senate floor amid 39-day government shutdown
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Amid a 39-day government shutdown, Republicans took to the Senate floor Saturday to blast the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, calling the program a failed approach to meeting the nation’s healthcare needs.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., went so far as to say the current system may need to be changed.
“When Obamacare was signed into law in 2010, you were promised that every family in America who participated in this thing would save $2,500 in premium reductions,” Graham said. “It’s like a 100% increase. This is unsustainable.”
BACKGROUND: TED CRUZ PREDICTIONS OBAMACARE BALLOON BENEFITS ARE NOW AT THE CENTER OF LOCKDOWN WAR
U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham speaks at a news conference at Saint Michael’s Square in downtown Kiev, Ukraine, on May 30, 2025. A bipartisan delegation from the United States, including Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal and Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, arrived in Kiev for a visit (Viktor Kovalchuk/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
“We will replace this broken system with something that is better for achieving the goal of lowering consumer health care costs,” Graham added.
Graham wasn’t the only Republican voice speaking out against Obamacare.
Sen., R-Wis. “I hate to report that people on the other side refuse to acknowledge the obvious harm Obamacare is doing across the board,” Ron Johnson said. “The problem we have in health care is that we have largely removed free market principles from health care. This is due to the flawed design of Obamacare. This needs to be fixed.”
Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., a former health care executive and longtime critic of the program. also participated.
“This is all because of Obamacare. When the government gets involved, prices usually go up,” Scott said.
Criticism of Obamacare, especially from Republicans, on Saturday went beyond the front-and-center issue of blocking consideration of government funding.
While Republicans have pushed a short-term spending package aimed at keeping the government open through Nov. 21, Democrats have rejected it 14 times and demanded that lawmakers first consider expanding COVID-era emergency tax subsidies for Obamacare plan holders.
Maintaining the temporary subsidies and how their ending has nothing to do with government spending, Republicans have largely focused their attention on the shutdown itself rather than engaging in a debate over Covid-era aid. They said they would negotiate subsidies when the government reopens.
But President Donald Trump changed the picture in a Saturday morning post on Truth Social, arguing that lawmakers should restructure the increased subsidies to go directly to policyholders rather than insurance companies, which currently receive tax credit payments.
TRUMP urges Senate Republicans to divert funds from Obamacare-backed insurance companies and pay Americans directly
President Donald Trump speaks with Senate and House Republicans during breakfast in the State Dining Room of the White House on Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) (Evan Vucci/AP Photo)
Following Trump’s proposal, lawmakers began criticizing the structure of Obamacare.
“Obamacare costs the federal government close to $150 billion a year. That’s right. We spend $150 billion of your tax dollars on other people’s health care,” said Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan.
“When they sold this to the American people, they said it would cost $40 or $50 billion, but we’re three times that. That’s $400 million a day,” he added.
Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, echoed those comments, arguing that Obamacare missed the mark in its original design.
“It’s clear that Obamacare has failed to deliver on its promises,” Ernst said. “The answer is not to spend more money on a broken system. What we need to do is fix what is broken. We can end this waste.”
HOUSE REPUBLICANS DIVIDED OVER OBAMACARE AS GOP’S EYES REVEALED AFTER SHUTDOWN
Ernst is the chairman of the DOGE group. (Reuters)
Like Ernst and Marshall, Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio, took to the floor to call on Congress to consider the source of increased health care spending.
“Hopefully, we want to get to the cost and cause of what affects the unaffordability of health care in this country. Since the start of Obamacare, health care has increased 6% per year while overall inflation has been 3% or less,” Husted said.
“I hope we can reopen the government and begin to serve the American people while continuing the very important conversation about how to make health care more affordable,” he added.
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It’s unclear when lawmakers will next consider spending legislation, although Senator Majority Leader John Thune (R.S.D.) kept the Senate in session through the weekend as lawmakers tried to break the gridlock.
