Congress and Obamacare: A Big Double Standard

Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) (KEVIN DIETSCH/UPI/Newscom)

Are lawmakers and  their personal staffs “exempt” from Obamacare, as some conservative critics are saying?

Well, not exactly. Members of Congress and their staffs  must be enrolled in the Obamacare exchange plans effective January 1, 2014.   Under Section 1312 (D) of the Affordable Care Act,   they can no longer get their health coverage  through the  Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP), the largest group health insurance program in the world. Because they lost their FEHBP coverage, they also lost their generous FEHBP subsidy,   amounting to roughly $5,000 for individual coverage, and more than $10,000 for family coverage. Just like ordinary Americans who lose their employer–based health insurance, Congress and staff  would only be eligible for the exchanges’ income –related subsidies.

How did this happen? During the 2010 debate on the Senate version of Obamacare,  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid inserted language  that Congress and staff would henceforth have to get their insurance in the Obamacare exchanges and would thus be ineligible to purchase coverage through the FEHBP.  The language was  an early committee amendment  authored by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), who argued that Congress should not treat itself differently from other Americans.

After passing Obamacare, Congressmen soon realized  they all faced higher premiums and out-of- pocket costs, just like millions of their fellow citizens.  While a lower-paid staffer who makes less than $46,000 annually would qualify for the new exchange subsidies, senior staff and Members of Congress (who make $174,000 annually) would not. Just like many private-sector employers, Congressmen also worried about Obamacare’s impact on attracting and retaining  employees.
Via: The Foundry

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Harry Reid On David Vitter And His Obamacare Amendment: 'He Just Is Not Playing With A Full Deck'

WASHINGTON -- As the showdown over raising the nation's debt limit and funding the government entered its final week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) could sense "desperation" seeping into the Republican Party.

"They kept trying to legislate from hour to hour," Reid recalled in an interview with The Huffington Post on Thursday. "It wasn't even day to day."

With Democratic senators united behind him, Reid dispatched the patchwork legislative offers being tossed his way, setting the stage for a complete GOP capitulation. But Wednesday night's resolution didn't come without exasperating moments. In particular, Reid said he was incensed that House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) targeted health care subsidies given to congressional staffers who are required to buy insurance on the newly created Obamacare exchanges.

Weeks before the government shutdown, Boehner's office had privately worked with Reid's staff and the Obama administration to maintain the employer health care contribution. But as Boehner's negotiating position worsened, he publicly demanded that the contribution be ended.

Via: Huffington Post

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Graham Joins Vitter in Fight over Hill’s Carve-Out

It’s a contest over which senator is the most unpopular with his colleagues. Surprisingly, it’s probably not Ted Cruz. The most likely winner is David Vitter of Louisiana, who is mounting a campaign to end government subsidies for congressional health coverage. Polls show that 92 percent of voters dislike the idea of a special Obamacare privilege for anyone on Capitol Hill.

Yesterday, Vitter won an influential new recruit: GOP senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. Graham told NRO’s Bob Costa that he will “object” to any pending fiscal deal unless the Senate at the same time votes on Vitter’s proposal.

“We’re down to stopping bad things, and the only bad thing at this point that we can really push on is the [Office of Personnel Management] rule,” he told Costa, referring to the rule that allows subsidies for Congress and its staff. “At this point, I’m not sure if we’re going to get it, so I’m going to object on any deal until I get that up-or-down vote. That’s only fair, and I believe the American people will be with me.”

Graham knows Vitter’s amendment may be the best leverage the Republicans have in any budget-deal negotiations. Democrats have personally and passionately appealed to Graham not to throw up a poison pill such as the Vitter amendment. But Graham says the Senate Democrats and President Obama “have moved the goal posts on a reasonable deal.”

Throwing the Vitter proposal into the mix is hugely unpopular with Capitol Hill veterans of both parties. Harry Reid, the majority leader, has slammed Vitter as “an anarchist” and “mean-spirited.”

Vitter responds that the original 2010 Obamacare law barred members of Congress and their personal staffs from continuing to get employer subsidies — worth $5,000 for individual policies and $11,000 or more for family coverage — because they would be buying coverage from the health-care exchanges, where employer subsidies are banned.

Via: NRO

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Shutdown showdown hits brink as Senate kills House spending bill

House Republicans said Monday they will try to pass a stopgap spending bill that will fund Obamacare, but will delay the individual mandate requiring all Americans to obtain insurance, and will cancel the taxpayer subsidies lawmakers use to pay for their own health plans.

The House was pushing to vote in the late evening on the new plan, which they said would keep government open past a midnight Monday deadline.

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But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has already said he will reject those provisions, leaving the two chambers no closer to a solution that would keep the government open.

“We are not going to change Obamacare,” Mr. Reid told reporters minutes after he led his chamber to kill two other Republican plans, one of which would have been a full one-year delay of the Affordable Care Act and the other which would have repealed the law’s unpopular medical device tax

The Senate’s 54-46 vote broke along party lines, suggesting that despite the misgivings of some Republicans, they are still maintaining unity in the face of a government shutdown.

The latest House offer has been brewing for some days, as Republicans insist there be some conditions attached to the stopgap spending bill. Democrats have said they will not accept any condition.

Sen. David Vitter, Louisiana Republican, said that those in Washington deserve to feel the same pain as the American people if Obamacare is not repealed.

“If [the government shuts down] because Democrats won’t accept treating Washington like it treats America, I think that’s a message that’s important for all Americans to hear,” Mr. Vitter told reporters Monday afternoon.

Via: Washington Times

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Democrats Act to Stop Vitter Amendment, Keep Obamacare Exemptions for Congress

Democratic leaders increased their efforts on Tuesday to turn aside an amendment sponsored by Republican U.S. Senator David Vitter of Louisiana, that would prevent Congressional members and staffers from receiving exemptions from key Obamacare measures.

When Congress passed the sweeping Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in 2010, Congressional members and their staff were exempted from several provisions of the law.

The Vitter amendment would change that and require the president and vice president to participate in mandated healthcare exchanges and would eliminate federal employer contributions for health benefits for the president, vice president, members of Congress, and political appointees. 

The amendment also would block tax credits for assistance in buying insurance on the exchanges for these individuals.

The Office of Personnel Management issued a directive, allowing staff to be eligible for subsidies for the coverage they currently have, which will pay for the majority of their healthcare insurance. Lawmakers were not included.

Democrats who passed the law are firing back at Vitter and his supporters.

Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois took to the Senate floor to defend the exemption, saying that allowing employer contributions for members of Congress and their staffs was simply asking "that this group of individuals be treated the same as every other American with health insurance through their employment."

Durbin, the Senate majority whip, said he fears "that this isn't the end of Sen. Vitter's crusade against health insurance by employers. I think this is the first step."

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid joined the attack, saying Vitter's amendment was "hypocritical and mean-spirited." 

Via: Newsmax

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Vitter accuses Reid, Boxer of ‘bribery’ and ‘intimidation’

Louisiana Republican Sen. David Vitter on Friday accused Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and California Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer of engaging in a “intimidation and payoff scheme” to “bribe” colleagues to vote a certain way on a bill, after it was reported Friday morning that Democrats were trying to rekindle Vitter’s 2007 prostitution scandal to stop him from opposing an energy bill.

Politico first reported that Democrats were drafting legislation that would deny any lawmaker government contributions to their health care, a perk of life in Congress, if there is “probably cause” that he or she solicited prostitutes.

In 2007, Vitter’s phone number was found in an investigation into the “DC Madam” prostitution ring, and he apologized for committing a “sin,” but did not elaborate.

The draft legislation is in retaliation for Vitter holding up a floor debate this week on an energy efficiency bill by trying to attach an amendment to the bill that would take away government contributions to lawmakers’ health-care coverage.

Another version of the bill would take away the benefits from anyone who voted to end such benefits, meaning Vitter, and anyone who voted for his amendment, would lose that government contribution.

Vitter said this is an attempt at “bribery” and “threatening their colleagues in the Senate with increased personal health-care costs if they do not vote a certain way on a particular amendment proposed by me concerning the 2010 Affordable Care Act.”

“Even if the proposed amendment is not actually introduced,” Vitter wrote in a letter to the Ethics Committee, “the fact that such legislation has not only been drafted, but also released to the press, has already induced the intended intimidating effect.”

He asked that the Ethics Committee launch an investigation into Reid and Boxer. He asks that Boxer, who chairs the committee, recuse herself from the investigation, and suggests she be removed from the committee if found guilty of an ethics violation.

Via: Daily Caller

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Reid: 'Anarchists have taken over'

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Thursday said “anarchists” have taken over Congress.

Reid (D-Nev.) said Tea Party Republicans are preventing progress on an energy efficiency bill by offering amendments on ObamaCare and other unrelated issues.

“We’re diverted totally from what this bill is about. Why? Because the anarchists have taken over,” Reid said on the Senate floor. “They’ve taken over the House and now they’ve taken over the Senate.

“People who don’t believe in government — and that’s what the Tea Party is all about — are winning, and that’s a shame.”

On Wednesday, Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) said he would prevent votes on lawmakers' amendments to the energy bill until he's assured he'll get a vote on his amendment, which would require some congressional and executive branch staff to enroll in the ObamaCare health exchanges.

“It’s defund ObamaCare, and I guess as the fiscal year comes to and end that’s what it’s all about,” Reid said.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) also introduced an ObamaCare-related amendment that would delay the individual health insurance mandate for one year, and codify the Obama administration's one-year delay of requirements that employers provide insurance.

“Let’s delay ObamaCare mandates for families right now,” McConnell said. “Then let’s work together to repeal the bill.”

The Senate is working on S. 1392, the Energy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness Act. This bill is meant to improve the energy efficiency of buildings. Reid said he hoped he and McConnell could work out a deal to allow votes on germane amendments later in the day.

Via: The Hill

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ENZI, VITTER BILL PUTS CONGRESS INTO OBAMACARE EXCHANGES

On Tuesday, Sens. Mike Enzi (R-WY) and David Vitter (R-LA) introduced legislation to reinstate the requirement that members of Congress, and their staffs, receive health coverage through ObamaCare exchanges, as well as pay the costs of their premiums. Earlier this month, the federal government issued a regulation issuing an exemption for Congress from the requirement included in the ObamaCare law. 

During the debate on ObamaCare, Sen. Chuck Grassley (IA) won approval for an amendment requiring Congress and its staff to enroll for coverage in the health exchanges set up by ObamaCare. This requirement also threatened the ability of the federal government to continue to pick up 75% of the costs of health insurance premiums for Congress, as it currently does. 

After close consultation with the White House and Capitol Hill, the Office of Personnel and Management ruled that the federal government could continue to provide Congress with its existing health insurance coverage, forgoing the exchanges or any dramatic increase in out-of-pocket premium payments. 

Politico reported that the exemption was driven by fears of a "brain drain" on Capitol Hill, causing aides to leave for other jobs rather than pay more for insurance under ObamaCare. 

It is a bit rich to argue that a law forced on all Americans has such potentially negative consequences that members and aides might quit unless they are made exempt. Where do I go to get an exemption?

The Enzi-Vitter bill would reverse the OPM exemption. 

Via: Breitbart

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