OPM Hackers Stole Data on Every Federal Employee

June 11, 2015 The hackers that infiltrated the Office of Personnel Management last year swiped the personal information of every federal employee working in government, a number potentially far greater than the 4 million previously reported, according to a labor union of government workers.

In a letter sent to OPM director Katherine Archuleta and obtained by National Journal, American Federation of Government Employees President J. David Cox wrote that the hackers stole social security numbers, birthdays, addresses, military records, job and pay histories and various insurance information, in addition to age, gender and race data.

"Based on the sketchy data OPM has provided, we believe that the Central Personnel Data File was the targeted database, and that the hackers are now in possession of personnel data for every federal employee, every federal retiree, and up to one million former federal employees," Cox wrote in a letter dated Thursday.

"We believe that Social Security numbers were not encrypted, a cybersecurity failure that is absolutely indefensible and outrageous," he added.

Cox said that the 18 months of credit monitoring and $1 million in liability insurance that OPM has offered affected employees is "entirely inadequate, either as compensation or protection from harm."

Last week federal officials announced that data of as many as 4 million former and current federal employees had been exposed. The breach occurred in December and was detected in April, officials said, and many have attributed the intrusion to China. The size of that hack was already considered one of the largest and most devastating on record. After the breach was announced, OPM signed a $20 million contract with a private cybersecurity company to provide identity-fraud protection services for affected employees.

(RELATED: Syrian Electronic Army Claims Hack of Army Website) 

Officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Earlier on Thursday, the Senate rejected a push by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to allow a cybersecurity measure to be added as an amendment to an ongoing debate over the National Defense Authorization Act. McConnell had tried to use news of the OPM hack to jam the bipartisan measure through, but Democrats—including some of the bill's supporters—argued that such important legislation was deserving of fuller debate.

Via: NJ

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Obamacare Reg Treats Congress That Spent $3.5 Trillion as a ‘Small Business’

(CNSNews.com) - An Obamacare regulation issued by the Office of Personnel Management in October treats the U.S. Congress—which employs more than 11,000 staffers and which spent $4,329,000,000 on its own operations and $3,454,253,000,000 to fund the full government in fiscal 2013--as a “small business.”

OPM did this so that the Treasury can pay federal subsidies of up to $11,378 per year to help members of the House and Senate and their staff buy health-insurance plans in the Obamacare “Small Business Health Options Program” (SHOP) Marketplace set up for “small employers” in Washington, D.C.

The regulation treats this federal tax subsidy paid by the U.S. Treasury as if it were an “employer contribution” made by the owner of a small business.

Subsection D of Section 1312 of the 906-page Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is entitled: “MEMBERS OF CONGRESS IN THE EXCHANGE.”

It says: “Notwithstanding any other provision of law, after the effective date of this subtitle, the only health plans that the Federal Government may make available to Members of Congress and congressional staff with respect to their service as a Member of Congress or congressional staff shall be health plans that are—(I) created under this Act (or an amendment made by this Act); or (II) offered through an Exchange established under this Act (or an amendment made by this Act).

Via: CNS News

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$174K-Per-Year Congressmen Will Get Special Obamacare Subsidy

(CNSNews.com) – Under Obamacare -- as it is being implemented under a regulation issued by the White House Office of Personnel Management (OPM) -- a middle-aged member of Congress who earns an annual salary of $174,000 from the taxpayers, and who has a wife and children, will get a $10,000 subsidy from the taxpayers (over and above his $174,000 salary) to buy a health insurance plan that a regular citizen making almost $80,000 less than the congressman will not get.

The Affordable Care Act (ACA), popularly known as Obamacare, included language mandating that members of Congress and their staff buy their now-mandated health insurance plans through a government exchange.

The laws says: “Notwithstanding any other provision of law, after the effective date of this subtitle, the only health plans that the Federal Government may make available to Members of Congress and congressional staff with respect to their service as a Member of Congress or congressional staff shall be health plans that are—(I) created under this Act (or an amendment made by this Act); or (II) offered through an Exchange established under this Act (or an amendment made by this Act).” (See Section 1312(d) of the law)

Americans in the private sector who buy health insurance through the Obamacare exchanges only get a federal subsidy (a tax credit) if their income/family situation is below 400% of poverty, the ceiling for which is $94,200 for a family of four.

Via: CNS News

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Another Obamacare Exception for Congress: Taxpayers Could Pay for Abortion Coverage

According to the Obama Administration’s latest eleventh-hour purported rulemaking, Members of Congress and their staff will be able to enroll in taxpayer-subsidized health plans that include coverage of elective abortions.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) released a final rule this week that will allow Members of Congress and their staff to choose health care plans on Obamacare’s state health insurance exchanges while receiving generous federal premium support. It is clear that the OPM does not even have statutory authority to provide premium support for exchange plans. Further, the final rule disregards longstanding, bipartisan federal prohibitions on the use of taxpayer funds to pay for elective abortions.

For decades, Members of Congress and their staff have enrolled in health plans through the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP), receiving significant federal taxpayer contributions toward premium payments. In almost every year since 1983, Congress has attached an amendment, authored by Representative Chris Smith (R–NJ), to the Financial Services appropriations bill, which funds the FEHBP, prohibiting the expenditure of those federal dollars to pay for elective abortions or health plans that provide coverage of abortions.

Yet because the Obamacare exchanges are governed by a separate law, the OPM claims that FEHBP enrollees are allowed to choose plans that provide abortion services. In fact, Obamacare explicitly forbids Members of Congress and their staff from continuing to participate in the FEHBP, forcing them to instead enroll in health plans on state insurance exchanges with their own funds.

Via: The Foundry

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Ron Johnson May Sue Over Obamacare Ruling for Congressional Staff

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said Thursday he is laying groundwork for a court challenge to an Office of Personnel Management decision that will permit congressional staffers to continue receiving employer contributions for their health care.

The OPM’s August ruling was intended to remedy a drafting error in the 2010 health care law that would require all Congressional staffers to pay for the full cost of their insurance without employer contributions.

Johnson, who last week filed a formal comment to OPM urging the agency reconsider its rule, said he and his staff did so in order to create a legal case against the administration.

“I really do believe that it was the pretty clear intent of the people who voted for Obamacare that members of Congress and their staffs should not be able to maintain their … insurance through the Federal Employee Health Benefits plan, and they also made it pretty clear through multiple votes that they didn’t think the federal government ought to make contributions into the exchanges where they had to get it,” Johnson said.

“I can’t tell you how OPM’s really going to conduct themselves … but you know, I did put in a comment into OPM, and the purpose behind that is I don’t think they’re going to follow… my advice, but I just wanted to make sure I certainly did everything I could do … through the normal channels so that I could then do a court challenge,” Johnson continued. “That helped me create standing.”

Currently, the Senate is stalled over an amendment from Republican David Vitter of Louisiana that would reverse the OPM rule. Vitter is trying to get the amendment voted on in conjunction with an energy efficiency bill.

When Johnson announced on Sept. 10 that he and several of his staffers had filed a comment to OPM, he said in a statement: “My intent is to make sure President Obama is not allowed to exceed his legal authority in implementing this law, and that members of Congress and their staffs are not shielded from the harmful effects of this law that every other American will experience.”

Via: Roll Call

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