CBS’s Stephen Colbert welcomed Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego to Wednesday’s taping of The Late Show for one of his regular segments where he seeks to align his show’s talking points with those of congressional Democrats. This time, the duo focused on the ongoing government shutdown and claimed that they are merely interested in providing affordable healthcare.
Colbert began with the kind of question that is really just a statement with a question mark thrown in at the end, “Well, this shutdown has gone on for 29 days. If I can characterize the position the Democrats want the Republicans to address the lapsing of the tax credits and ACA, the Obamacare, so people are going to see the rates jump up starting in November, right?”
Because the real answer of Minority Leader Chuck Schumer being scared Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is going to primary him would not have made Democrats look good, Gallego instead claimed, “Basically starting November 1, people are going to start opening up and start signing up for health insurance, and they’re going to realize the health insurance that they’ve had for the last couple of years has been very affordable is now not going to be affordable. And so, for example, in Arizona a family of about, you know, four or five could potentially see their premiums jump almost, you know, 50 percent.”
Under the original Obamacare law, households making over 400 percent of the federal poverty line were banned from receiving subsidies. The Biden-era policy, which was supposed to be a temporary COVID relief measure, removed that cap, so Gallego is arguing that a family of four that makes $128,600 or a family of five that makes $150,600 should be eligible for federal subsidies.
Facts aside, Gallego kept rolling, “So, for a family that could be almost $7,000. That’s a lot of money, maybe not in New York City, but in Arizona it’s a lot of money. And things are hard right now. I mean, everything is fricking expensive, and now the government, these Republicans, are going to willingly raise people's premiums. That's what's happening right now. And [Speaker Mike] Johnson's off hiding somewhere with the Epstein list, and, you know, I don't know where the hell Trump is. But I think he's probably in Korea putting on a crown or something like that, but either way our people, everyday working-class people in this country, are hurting right now.”
If Democrats really want to address healthcare, they have wasted a month throwing a temper tantrum, but they can always count on the late night comedy shows to provide them a safe space to rail against Republicans.
Here is a transcript for the October 29-taped show:
CBS The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
10/30/2025
12:20 AM ET
STEPHEN COLBERT: Well, this shutdown has gone on for 29 days. If I can characterize the position the Democrats want the Republicans to address the lapsing of the tax credits and ACA, the Obamacare, so people are going to see the rates jump up starting in November, right?
RUBEN GALLEGO: To not speak in nerd speak, what’s going to happen is starting November-- just to be honest.
[crosstalk]
GALLEGO: Basically starting November 1, people are going to start opening up and start signing up for health insurance, and they’re going to realize the health insurance that they’ve had for the last couple of years has been very affordable is now not going to be affordable. And so, for example, in Arizona a family of about, you know, four or five could potentially see their premiums jump almost, you know, 50 percent.
So, for a family that could be almost $7,000. That’s a lot of money, maybe not in New York City, but in Arizona it’s a lot of money. And things are hard right now. I mean, everything is fricking expensive, and now the government, these Republicans, are going to willingly raise people's premiums. That's what's happening right now. And Johnson's off hiding somewhere with the Epstein list, and, you know, I don't know where the hell Trump is. But I think he's probably in Korea putting on a crown or something like that, but either way our people, everyday working-class people in this country, are hurting right now.
