Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Josh Turek said he believes the “bare minimum” outcome Senate Democrats should accept to end the federal government shutdown is the extension of enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies.

“I think a good outcome would be, at the moment, would be to see the ACA subsidies continue at the very least,” he said. “I mean, that’s millions and millions of Americans that are going to see their premiums go up. I think at the bare minimum you can start there.”

Beyond that, Turek said in an Oct. 29 interview with the Des Moines Register that he wants to see a reversal of the Medicaid spending cuts in the “big, beautiful bill” Republicans voted to pass this summer, which could total $1 trillion over a decade.

The federal government shutdown, which began Oct. 1, is currently the second-longest in U.S. history. Senate Democrats have refused to vote for a government funding bill without assurances that Republicans will extend the enhanced Obamacare subsidies and reverse Medicaid spending cuts.

Without congressional action, the enhanced ACA subsidies will expire at the end of the year, leading to increased health insurance premiums in 2026. The enhanced tax credits provide assistance to those making more than 400% of the federal poverty level, as well as making plans more affordable for currently eligible enrollees.

More: Iowans will soon face higher health insurance premiums. Some may decide to go without.

If Turek were in the Senate today, he said he would side with Senate Democrats who are currently withholding their votes as Republicans refuse to negotiate over health care.

“In this fight, I would be siding with them because I think that health care is absolutely worth fighting for,” Turek said.

Asked if he would vote for a clean bill to fund the government and end the shutdown, Turek said he wants to ensure that the enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies don’t expire.

“I think we need to ensure that we’re not going to see these cuts to the ACA subsidies,” he said. “That’s what you’re looking at — 125,000 Iowans that are going to see their health care premiums double or triple. I mean, this is in a state which already has maybe the most broken health care system in the country.”

Still, he said if he were in the Senate, “I would be up there working in a bipartisan manner to be able to find a solution to this.”

“That’s what I’ve done at the Iowa House level is be willing to work across the aisle,” he said. “And you shouldn’t be up there playing political games, especially political games with people’s lives and livelihood.”

Turek said “every single elected official” shares the responsibility for finding a solution to the shutdown.

“But ultimately this is a government with the executive branch that is in the hands of the Republicans and (so) is the Senate and the House,” he said.

Turek, a state representative from Council Bluffs, has centered his U.S. Senate campaign on health care issues. In his campaign launch video, he recounted being born with spina bifida, which led him to undergo 21 surgeries before the age of 12. Turek, a wheelchair user, became the first permanently disabled member of the Iowa House when he was elected in 2022.

He said the Medicaid spending cuts in the “big, beautiful bill” will damage rural Iowa as hospitals struggle to keep their doors open. Republicans have touted a $50 billion relief fund for rural hospitals included in the law, but experts say it won’t offset the spending reductions.

“When you’re talking about cuts to Medicaid and you go out to these rural hospitals, they’ll tell you Medicaid is their lifeblood,” he said.

The shutdown will cause Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program funding to lapse on Nov. 1 for 42 million Americans, including more than 260,000 people in Iowa who rely on the dollars to help pay for healthy food.

Republicans have said Democrats are to blame for the shutdown’s consequences, including the upcoming cutoff of SNAP benefits. But Democrats say Republicans can use their existing authority to keep SNAP funded.

On Oct. 30, Turek joined his colleagues in the Iowa House and Senate in calling on Gov. Kim Reynolds to use state funds to temporarily pay for SNAP benefits as federal funding expires. He also called on Attorney General Brenna Bird to join a lawsuit seeking to require the U.S. Department of Agriculture to tap contingency funds to pay for the benefits on the federal level.

“I think it’s important that we find a way to fund that at the state level, at least in the short term,” he said. “In the long term, I think releasing some of that USDA funding is going to be one of the long-term solutions to that.”

Turek is running against several other Democrats for the party’s 2026 U.S. Senate nomination, including state Sen. Zach Wahls, former Knoxville Chamber of Commerce Director Nathan Sage and former state lawmaker Bob Krause.

Stephen Gruber-Miller covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. He can be reached by email at sgrubermil@registermedia.com or by phone at 515-284-8169. Follow him on X at @sgrubermiller.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Josh Turek says ACA subsidies ‘worth fighting for’ in shutdown