CNN host Brianna Keilar talking to Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kansas) on October 3, 2025 (image via screenshot)
The United States' federal government is experiencing a partial shutdown as Democratic and Republican lawmakers continue to fight over spending, including subsidies for the Affordable Care Act of 2010 (or ACA, also known as Obamacare). House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) is warning that millions of Americans will be unable to afford health insurance in 2026 if ACA subsidies are not renewed.
During a Friday afternoon, October 3 appearance on CNN, Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kansas) blamed the ACA for the high cost of health insurance in the U.S, but he got an unexpected fact-check from host Brianna Keilar.
Marshall told Keilar, "Look, the premiums are going to go up, and they're going to go up because of the ACA. The ACA has caused overregulation. It's led to consolidation of the industry. So people need to realize all we're doing is increasing the subsidy on these ACA bills. But we do have bills that we will go through Congress this month, in the next two months, to make a price tags bill. Could you imagine walking into a restaurant without knowing the cost of your meal? We want to do that the same way with health care."
But Keilar reminded Marshall that according to a Washington Post poll, more Americans blame Republicans than blame Democrats for the shutdown — and Marshall recited MAGA talking points, describing it as a "Schumer shutdown" in reference to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).
Marshall attacked the Post poll as biased, but when Keilar asked him to name a poll refuting it, he couldn't think of one. And he continued to recite talking points, claiming that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) has "hijacked" the Democratic Party and echoed Trump's "waste, fraud and abuse" line.
Keilar also tried to pin Marshall down on U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) jobs that will be on the "chopping block" and the effect of those job losses on farmers in Marshall's state. But he avoiding answering her question.
Marshall told Keilar, "Everything the farmers need is getting done right now ... Government people need to come to the office. They need to work more efficiently. They need to embrace technology ... We don't need people just sitting around trading e-mails."
Keilar, however, emphasized, "I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about people out in fields with farmers stopping erosion so that they have better crop yields."