D-Day National Commemorative Event More: President Donald J. Trump addresses his remarks during a D-Day National Commemorative Event Wednesday, June 5, 2019, at the Southsea Common in Portsmouth, England.

(Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead). Original public domain image from Flickr

Today, Americans for Tax Reform, with 34 other free market groups and advocates, released a coalition letter urging President Trump to let the expanded Obamacare subsidies, or the Biden COVID credits, expire at the end of the year.

The coalition applauds President Trump for rejecting the “unserious and ridiculous demands” made by Democrats in their threats to shut the government down:

“We stand by your position that, at this point, no meeting with Democrat congressional leaders could possibly be productive. The unserious laundry list of progressive demands proves that Democrats would be responsible for any government shutdown. This is not a negotiation over policy, it is an act of political cowardice. Chuck Schumer is afraid of his base.

We urge your Administration to continue fighting the radical Left’s agenda: specifically, by allowing the Biden COVID credits to expire.”

In the letter, we assert that making the Biden COVID credits permanent would be tremendously expensive, increase premiums in the long-term, and encourage widespread fraud.

To read the letter in full, click here or see below.

September 26th, 2025

The Honorable Donald J. Trump
President of the United States
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20500

RE: Coalition in Support of Letting the Biden COVID Credits Expire at the End of the Year

Dear Mr. President,

We, the undersigned organizations, applaud you for rejecting the “unserious and ridiculous demands” made by Democrats in their threats to shut the government down.

We stand by your position that, at this point, no meeting with Democrat congressional leaders could possibly be productive. The unserious laundry list of progressive demands proves that Democrats would be responsible for any government shutdown. This is not a negotiation over policy, it is an act of political cowardice. Chuck Schumer is afraid of his base.

We urge your Administration to continue fighting the radical Left’s agenda: specifically, by allowing the Biden COVID credits to expire.

Frontline Democrats have threatened a government shutdown, refusing to support Republicans’ clean continuing resolution (CR) that would fund the government through November 21. Democrats’ “counter plan” includes a number of preposterous demands – most significant, an extension of the enhanced tax credit. This would be disastrous.

Making the Biden COVID credits permanent would be tremendously expensive, increase premiums in the long-term, and encourage widespread fraud.

In the American Rescue Plan (ARP), President Biden and congressional Democrats expanded Obamacare subsidies by increasing benefits for households at every income level and expanding them to households earning more than 400 percent of the federal poverty level, including those making over $500,000 per year. These expanded subsidies were then extended through 2025 in the Inflation Reduction Act.

The Biden COVID credits were always supposed to be temporary. At the time they were passed, the American people were assured that the expanded premium tax credits were a necessary and temporary response to the global pandemic. Four years later, we have moved on from the pandemic, but taxpayers are still on the hook for rising premiums. Notably, roughly half of new enrollees would not have been eligible under the original ACA framework, as their incomes exceed the 400 percent federal poverty level.

In the long-term, the Biden COVID credits raise premiums. Even with these policies in place, a CBO report confirmed that premiums for exchange plans are rising more quickly than originally anticipated. When the government subsidizes the cost of anything, sellers inevitably raise their prices. The government will pay for it, after all. As a result, the hundreds of billions of dollars spent on this expansion are going straight to insurers, not to patients. While some Americans may be concerned about premiums going up in the short term, removing the incentive for insurers to continue raising their prices will save patients money in the long run.

The Biden COVID credits are further bankrupting our country. According to the Congressional Budget Office, expanding the subsidies would cost around $35 billion per year, or $350 billion over the next decade. For reference, this is over 3 times the size of your No Tax on Tips initiative. As the Economic Policy Innovation Center detailed, “resulting increases in net interest costs would add another $64 billion, for a total cost of $448 billion over the FY 2026 to 2035 period.” The cost of premium tax credits was already colossal – costing taxpayers $1 trillion over 10 years. It is unacceptable for a “temporary” expansion to raise that cost by roughly 45 percent.

The Biden COVID credits have led to widespread fraud, as lax verification has enabled millions to qualify improperly. The Paragon Health Institute estimated that 6.4 million Americans are improperly enrolled in Obamacare exchanges, a number that surged by more than one-quarter from 2024 to 2025. This level of improper enrollment, which is likely an underestimation, will cost taxpayers up to $27 billion this year.

As Paragon details in their report, after the PTC expansion, there was a surge in enrollment and higher-than-ever insurer profits, with many of these enrollees “ineligible, unaware they were signed up, or never [having] used their plan.” This mirrors Paragon’s research regarding phantom Obamacare enrollees, finding that “a staggering 40 percent of enrollees in 94 percent actuarial value silver plans and bronze plans had no medical claims in 2024.” No doctor visits, services received, or prescriptions filled.

The massive cost of this expansion not only puts our country further in debt, but these federal dollars are going straight to insurance companies, not patients, who now have little incentive to keep their costs low. The expanded subsidies have encouraged rampant fraud and are putting taxpayers on the hook for high-income earners’ payments.

Knowing your Administration’s dedication to reining in wasteful spending and fraud, we urge you to let the Biden COVID credits expire, not extend them or — worse — make them permanent.

Onward,

Grover Norquist
President, Americans for Tax Reform

Saulius “Saul” Anuzis
President, American Association of Senior Citizens

Dick Patten
President, American Business Defense Council

Phil Kerpen
President, American Commitment

Brent Gardner
Chief Government Affairs Officer, Americans for Prosperity

Rep. David Ray
Arkansas State Representative, District 69

Ryan Ellis
President, Center for a Free Economy

Jeffrey Mazzella
President, Center for Individual Freedom

Donald T. Eason
President, Center for Urban Renewal and Education (CURE)

Chuck Muth
President, Citizen Outreach

David McIntosh
President, Club For Growth

John Vick
Executive Director, Concerned Veterans for America

James Edwards
Executive Director, Conservatives for Property Rights

Kristen A. Ullman
President, Eagle Forum

George Landrith
President, Frontiers of Freedom

John C. Goodman
President, Goodman Institute for Public Policy Research

James Taylor
President, The Heartland Institute

Daniel Perrin
President, HSA Coalition

Annette Olson
Chief Executive Officer, The John K. MacIver Institute for Public Policy

Seton Motley
President, Less Government

Helder Toste
Government Affairs Liaison, The LIBRE Initiative

Paul Craney
Executive Director, Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance

Tim Jones
Fmr. Speaker, Missouri House of Representatives
Chairman, Missouri Center-Right Coalition

Representative Jeff Kropf (Ret)
Oregon Capitol Watch Foundation
Oregon Taxpayer Coalition

Brian Blase, Ph.D.
President, Paragon Health Institute

Eric Ventimiglia
Executive Director, Pinpoint Policy Institute

Lorenzo Montanari
Executive Director, Property Rights Alliance

Mike Stenhouse
CEO, RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity

Paul Gessing
President, Rio Grande Foundation

James Erwin
Executive Director, Digital Liberty
Interim Director, Shareholder Advocacy Forum

James L. Martin
Founder/Chairman, 60 Plus Association

Kerri Toloczko
Chair, Southwest Florida Center Right Coalition

David Miller
Chair, Center Right Southwest Ohio

David Williams
President, Taxpayers Protection Alliance

Patrick D. Purtill
Executive Vice President & General Counsel, Unify.US