[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 15178]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




        HEALTH BENEFITS FOR MEMBERS OF CONGRESS AND THEIR STAFF

  (Mr. PASCRELL asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. PASCRELL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to correct the record 
regarding the health benefits for Members of Congress and their staff.
  Recently, many on the other side have been falsely claiming that 
Congress is trying to exempt itself from the Affordable Care Act in an 
effort to distract the public from their failure to do their job and 
keep our government open. The fact is that Members of Congress and 
their staff are the only people who are required by law to give up 
current employer-provided health care and go into the exchanges.
  I support this because I know the exchanges will provide all 
Americans, including Congress and its staff, quality, affordable health 
insurance. The exemption my friends want to get rid of is ending 
Congress' employer contribution, which all Federal employees currently 
receive.
  Mr. Speaker, my Republican colleagues probably have, like many of us 
do, young staffers working in their offices that make around $25,000 a 
year. We are going to ask these devoted civil servants to pay $5,000 to 
$12,000 more per year for health insurance than they currently pay just 
to score a cheap political point?
  Ask the Speaker. He supports maintaining this contribution. Case 
closed.

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