As the U.S. government shutdown stretches into its fourth week, Utah Sen. Mike Lee has returned to familiar ground — a fight against the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that first propelled him into national headlines more than a decade ago.
Federal workers remain furloughed, national parks are shuttered, and air travel disruptions are mounting. Yet, amid the turmoil, Lee is once again championing a call to repeal Obamacare, a stance that now places him on the far edge of the Republican caucus.
A Flashback to 2013 and a Familiar Stand
Lee first made his mark during the 2013 government shutdown, when he and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz refused to fund the ACA, forcing a 16-day standoff in Congress. Though the effort failed, it cemented Lee’s image as a staunch constitutional conservative willing to challenge party leadership.
Now, twelve years later, he’s echoing the same message.
“Healthcare will keep getting more expensive until we repeal Obamacare,” Lee wrote on X earlier this month. “Republicans ran on this for a decade. We shouldn’t run from it now.”
The 2025 Shutdown and the ACA Debate
This year’s shutdown stems in part from a dispute over expiring pandemic-era health-insurance subsidies. Democrats want to make the enhanced premium tax credits permanent, while Lee and a handful of conservatives argue the program should end entirely.
The credits — first expanded in 2021 to help families afford insurance during the pandemic — are due to expire at year’s end. Millions of Americans rely on them, including an estimated 12% of Utahns, giving the Beehive State the fourth-highest ACA enrollment rate in the nation.
Party Divisions Over Health Care
While Lee calls for full repeal, several Republicans — including Utah’s John Curtis, Blake Moore, and Mike Kennedy — have expressed willingness to discuss extending the credits temporarily to avoid sudden cost spikes.
Rep. Jen Kiggans of Virginia, leading a moderate GOP group, said, “Raising costs for families with little notice and potentially stripping them of access to care is simply unacceptable.”
But Lee’s view remains unchanged: he insists that subsidies drive up costs, entrench dependency, and distort the market. “Socialized medicine doesn’t work. Obamacare doesn’t work,” he said. “It never will.”
Critics Question the Strategy
Political observers note that most of Lee’s colleagues have moved on from trying to repeal the ACA, focusing instead on reforms to lower costs. Even prominent conservative donors such as Charles Koch are urging Republicans to negotiate strategically rather than prolong the shutdown.
Yet for Lee, this is a matter of principle, not politics. His official platform calls for expanding Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and reducing federal involvement in health care altogether.
Utah’s Political Crossroads
With much of Utah now benefiting from the ACA’s subsidies, Lee’s push for repeal faces growing skepticism at home. But his supporters praise his consistency and conviction, saying he’s one of the few remaining voices in Washington still fighting for limited government.
As the shutdown continues, the debate has become a symbolic test of old-school conservatism versus pragmatic governance — and Mike Lee once again finds himself at the center of it.
