David Vitter opens investigation into Hillâs Obamacare implementation
Sen. David Vitter is not backing off his yearslong quest to undermine Obamacareâs implementation on Capitol Hill, even as he runs for governor of Louisiana. As the Louisiana Republican preps for this yearâs gubernatorial race, heâs using his new chairmanship of the Senate Small Business Committee to open up an investigation into what he calls a âWashington exemptionâ for the Affordable Care Act â the ability of some Capitol Hill aides to continue receiving federal contributions for their health care on Obamacareâs exchanges. Story Continued Below The conservative lawmaker is requesting unredacted documents to determine how the District of Columbia Health Benefits Exchange determined Congress would receive a federal taxpayer subsidy that is âunavailable to any other American under the Affordable Care Act.â âSomeone within Congress knowingly falsified information in order for Congress to keep their Obamacare subsidy. We need to know who, immediately, so we can fix this injustice and eliminate the unfair practice,â Vitter wrote Tuesday in a letter to the House clerk, the Senateâs financial clerk and the D.C. Health Benefit Exchange Authority. He also questions why lawmakers and staffers have been directed to the Districtâs Small Business Exchange even though Congress is not a small business. âAllowing Congress â which employs nearly 16,000 individuals â to determine itself as a âsmall businessâ doesnât pass the common-sense test,â Vitter wrote. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), the committeeâs ranking member, said in response to Vitterâs investigation that âcongressional intent was clear that reasonable subsidies would be still be availableâ to Capitol Hill staffers. âSenator Vitter has made no secret of his agenda to do all he can to dismantle the Affordable Care Act and disrupt the ability of Congressional employees to receive health benefits from their employers,â Cardin said. Vitter has long been frustrated by Washingtonâs âexemption,â which he says unjustly allows the federal government to continue to pay for a portion of lawmakersâ and Capitol Hill staffersâ health insurance under Obamacare. He held up a bipartisan energy efficiency bill last year for weeks as he pressed for a vote to kill the contributions and filed amendments intended to do so on several bills. Those actions privately frustrated staffers in both parties who could see their insurance costs increase, but the move positioned him as anti-Washington to his constituents back home. The vast majority of large employers in the United States pay for a portion of their employeesâ health care. Proponents of Obamacare say the vast majority of large employers in the country pay for a portion of their employeesâ health care and that the law allows the federal government to continue to do the same.