Dem candidates lean on Obama in final stretch of campaign as Obamacare premiums prepare to spike
Former President Barack Obama is hitting the campaign trail this weekend in an attempt to shore up support for Democrats, Reps. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., and Mikie Sherrill, D-N.J., who are...
By Fox News · Fox News
Former President Barack Obama is hitting the campaign trail this weekend in an attempt to shore up support for Democrats, Reps. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., and Mikie Sherrill, D-N.J., who are running for governor in their respective states. Obama will join Spanberger at Old Dominion University in Norfolk in the morning before heading to Newark to stump for Sherrill at a get-out-the-vote rally later in the afternoon. The former president is reprising his role as campaign closer as he remains the most widely recognized leader in the Democratic Party. This latest re-emergence, however, comes as the country reels from a protracted government shutdown over the last remaining piece of his legacy, the Affordable Care Act, more popularly known as "Obamacare." With Obamacare subsidies expiring in December, Democrats have made it clear they will not vote to reopen the government without extending the subsidies. 'THE PANDEMIC'S OVER': GOP, DEM SENATORS SPAR ON CAMERA OVER COSTLY OBAMACARE SUBSIDIES Since its enactment, Obamacare has offered subsidies in the form of tax credits for health insurance premiums on plans purchased through the ACA's exchanges based on enrollees' income levels. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress enacted enhanced premium tax credits in 2021 that were extended by Democrats' Inflation Reduction Act through the end of 2025 – with the policy now caught up in the shutdown debate. In a floor speech just a few days into the shutdown, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer , D-N.Y., proclaimed that "if these ACA premium tax credits aren’t extended, the average fifty-five-year-old couple making $85,000 a year would see their premiums not just double, but triple to $25,000 a year." "That is all Democrats want to fix. We are on the side of the people. The people know it and want it and need it," said Schumer. When former President Barack Obama signed the legislation into law in 2010, he promised it would "lower costs for families and for businesses and for the…