[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Pages 11835-11836]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  WASHINGTON EXEMPTION FROM OBAMACARE

  Mr. VITTER. Mr. President, I come to the floor today to again bring 
up a very important issue. It is important because it impacts a major 
part of our lives, a major law that Congress passed several years ago. 
It is important because it goes to a fundamental principle--what should 
be a fundamental principle of American democracy--that what Washington 
passes for the rest of the country it should live with itself. I am 
talking about the Washington exemption from ObamaCare and my effort, 
with others, to end that double standard.
  As the Presiding Officer remembers, during the ObamaCare debate 
several years ago, this issue came up. It came up in the context of a 
floor amendment. It was an important floor amendment, one of the very 
few that conservatives in the Senate passed on the Senate floor.
  That amendment to the ObamaCare bill said that all Members of 
Congress and our staff would get our health care through the so-called 
ObamaCare exchange, just as millions of other Americans would under 
this plan--no special rules, no special treatment, no special exemption 
or special subsidy. That was important to say that Congress would live 
under whatever law passed for the rest of America, and that amendment 
was passed on the Senate floor. It became part of the broader bill, and 
it was eventually passed into law. Obviously, as you know, I opposed--
strongly opposed--and continue to oppose the ObamaCare bill and the 
law, but that amendment was made a part of it.
  Well, after it was passed into law, it was sort of one of those cases 
of which Nancy Pelosi said that we have to pass the law to figure out 
what is in it. After the fact, lots of folks on Capitol Hill in 
Washington started reading the law more carefully, read that provision, 
and said: Oh, you know what. How are we going to deal with this? 
Surely, surely we aren't going to be subjected to the ObamaCare 
exchanges the same as millions upon millions of other Americans--even 
though that is exactly what the statute said.
  Well, at that point a very determined lobbying campaign got under 
way--a lobbying campaign of many Members on Capitol Hill--of the 
President. And the campaign was simple. People rushed to the 
administration, rushed to President Obama and said: Oh, you need to 
change this. We can't live with the statute and the significant section 
of the statute that says all Members of Congress need to go to the 
exchange for their health insurance, just as millions of other 
Americans do.
  Sure enough, after months of that very determined and, sadly, 
bipartisan lobbying campaign, President Obama issued one of his 
countless Executive orders and edicts to essentially change, with the 
stroke of his pen, contrary to statute, a significant part of the 
ObamaCare statute.
  He has done that dozens--if not hundreds--of times, and this is one 
significant example of that. He changed what the statute said and took 
a lot of the sting out of that provision of the law for Members of 
Congress.
  Through an OPM rule, he said two things. First, Members of Congress, 
when you go to the exchange, which is mandated, don't worry; you are 
going to have a big taxpayer-funded subsidy follow you to the 
exchange--unavailable to every other American at our income level and 
completely unique to Members of Congress. No other American going to 
the ObamaCare exchanges enjoys this. But out of thin air, we are going 
to give you a big, taxpayer-funded subsidy that is nowhere in the 
statute.
  Then the second significant thing President Obama did through that 
OPM rule was to say this: Members of Congress, this doesn't have to 
apply to your staff even though it says it does. You can designate 
whomever you want on your staff as ``nonofficial'' and they don't have 
to go to the ObamaCare exchange at all.
  Well, virtually all of my Republican colleagues regularly come to the 
floor and rightly complain about President Obama changing statutory law 
with the stroke of his pen, acting beyond his authority. This is a 
crystal-clear example of that. If we complain about it in other 
context, I think we should speak up and complain about it even when it 
benefits us. So that is what I am doing.
  We should not stand for this Washington exemption from ObamaCare. We 
should not stand for this complete, complete double standard. We should 
insist that we live by that clear language of the ObamaCare statute so 
that every Member of Congress gets his or her health care on the so-
called ObamaCare exchange, just as millions of other Americans do--no 
exemption, no special subsidy, and no special treatment in any way, 
shape or form.
  I have been fighting since that OPM rule to make sure we do exactly 
that. There will be a floor amendment this week to pursue that end, and 
I urge my colleagues to do the right thing, to support that important 
floor amendment. It is important to do that for two reasons--one, 
focused on principle and one focused on real practicality.
  First, as to the principle, I think it is a basic fundamental 
principle of American democracy--it certainly should be--that what 
Washington passes on the rest of the country it lives with itself. That 
should be a fundamental principle of American democracy.
  So my legislation, the No Exemption for Washington from Obamacare 
Act, the floor amendment which embodies exactly that legislation, would 
say that every Member of Congress, the President, the Vice President, 
and their political appointees get their health care from the ObamaCare 
exchanges just like millions of other Americans--no special exemption, 
no special subsidy, no special treatment, no special insider deal.
  The second reason we should support that is a lot more practical, and 
that is that when you make the cook eat his own cooking, it often 
improves dramatically. When you force the chef to have every meal out 
of his own kitchen, the product often improves dramatically.
  So that is what I want to do in a simple, straightforward way, 
abiding by the clear language of the ObamaCare statute itself. All of 
official Washington--every Member of Congress, the President, the Vice 
President, and all of their political appointees--should have to go to 
the exchanges for their health care, just like millions of other 
Americans who have to as their fallback option. And we should do it in 
the same way--no special exemption, no special subsidy, no special 
treatment, and no special insider deal.
  It is important we say this, and it is important we do it. We have an 
opportunity do it on the floor as we debate the bill before us.
  I urge my colleagues to support this important floor amendment and to 
lend support to the free-standing bill that I have introduced.
  As I travel to Louisiana, I have regular townhall meetings, and I 
have regular telephone townhalls when I am stuck here in Washington and 
voting. Probably, the biggest single complaint I hear that really and 
rightly gets under the skin of my fellow Louisiana citizens goes to the 
heart of this discussion.
  Why the heck does everybody in Washington think they are above us? 
Why do they pass laws and never have to live under them themselves?
  Well, this is a crystal-clear example of that. What is worse is that 
the statute itself sets out that we would live under ObamaCare, getting 
our health care from the ObamaCare exchange just like millions of other 
Americans.
  If you don't believe that is what the statute mandates, look exactly 
at the

[[Page 11836]]

particulars of how Congress and the President are currently getting 
around that through the special OPM rule that President Obama issued. 
This rule says that Congress can get its health care from a special 
small business exchange in the District of Columbia and can have a huge 
taxpayer-funded subsidy applied, even though it is unavailable to every 
other American at our income level.
  Now, what is wrong with that? Well, under the ObamaCare statute 
itself, that small business exchange is specifically set up and 
regulated and limited to small businesses of 50 employees or less.
  How did Congress define itself as a small business with 50 employees 
or less? It is interesting, if you pull the paperwork that the 
leadership of the House and Senate sent over to allow Members to 
participate in this exchange. The folks who submitted that paperwork on 
behalf of the House and the Senate, who signed off on it saying that 
everything contained therein was true and accurate, said: How many 
employees does the Senate have? Forty-five. How many employees does the 
House have? Forty-five.
  Really? That is interesting. This is a flatout lie. It is a flatout 
lie submitted in writing by the House and Senate on behalf of all of us 
to shoehorn Congress in to this small business exchange to get extra 
added benefits, to get this taxpayer-funded subsidy unavailable to 
every other American at our income level. And that proves how 
outrageous this end run around the statutory language is.
  So again, I urge all our colleagues to come together in support of 
this fix and to say: Yes, it should be the first rule of American 
democracy that what we pass for the rest of America we live by 
ourselves. That is important, and we are going to do it in this case 
and in every case.
  I urge my colleagues to support our freestanding bill--the No 
Exemption for Washington from ObamaCare Act. I urge our colleagues to 
support the floor amendment, which is the same as that freestanding 
bill, and to pass it as a floor amendment--to pass it into law through 
that mechanism.
  Before yielding the floor, Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent 
that the time during the quorum call be equally divided.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. VITTER. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. DONNELLY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Flake). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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