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Bipartisan negotiations ongoing to exempt Congress/aides from Obamacare
I'm sure this won't look bad at all.
Congress: Obamacare For Thee, But Not For Me?
No sense in denying it. Politico won the primetime last night with a breathtaking story about Congressional hypocrisy. The article’s here. The nub of it is that Democrats and Republicans are supposedly, and secretly, trying to exempt lawmakers and their aides from Obamacare. Back in 2009, when the bill was in its infancy, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) introduced an amendment to effectively require members and staffs to obtain their insurance on the exchanges just like your average Joe whose employer doesn’t provide health benefits. It passed, for reasons which should be politically obvious. Now members want a mulligan.
Ezra Klein burrows into the specifics and lets these supposedly scheming members of Congress off the hook. All that’s happening, he reports, is that members are trying to figure out a way for Congress to continue contributing to employee premiums.
We’re still burrowing down into the specifics ourselves, because we want to give everyone a completely fair shake, without lapsing into credulity. But at first glance, and then after some initial reporting, I think the truth is somewhere in between.
Congressional leaders don’t appear to be trying to repeal the Grassley amendment. As Ezra writes, they’re investigating whether there’s a way for the federal government, which employs Congressional aides, to continue helping folks on the Hill afford insurance.
But that in and of itself violates the spirit, if not the letter, of Grassley’s amendment.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2013/04/congress_obamacare_for_thee_but_not_for_me.php?ref=fpblg
No sense in denying it. Politico won the primetime last night with a breathtaking story about Congressional hypocrisy. The article’s here. The nub of it is that Democrats and Republicans are supposedly, and secretly, trying to exempt lawmakers and their aides from Obamacare. Back in 2009, when the bill was in its infancy, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) introduced an amendment to effectively require members and staffs to obtain their insurance on the exchanges just like your average Joe whose employer doesn’t provide health benefits. It passed, for reasons which should be politically obvious. Now members want a mulligan.
Ezra Klein burrows into the specifics and lets these supposedly scheming members of Congress off the hook. All that’s happening, he reports, is that members are trying to figure out a way for Congress to continue contributing to employee premiums.
We’re still burrowing down into the specifics ourselves, because we want to give everyone a completely fair shake, without lapsing into credulity. But at first glance, and then after some initial reporting, I think the truth is somewhere in between.
Congressional leaders don’t appear to be trying to repeal the Grassley amendment. As Ezra writes, they’re investigating whether there’s a way for the federal government, which employs Congressional aides, to continue helping folks on the Hill afford insurance.
But that in and of itself violates the spirit, if not the letter, of Grassley’s amendment.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2013/04/congress_obamacare_for_thee_but_not_for_me.php?ref=fpblg
The brain-drain defense is being used - that Congress will lose all the smarts and congress critters can't be expected to write their own bills.
