Business As Usual On Capitol Hill
The bill Senator Vitter…and his co-author, Senator Mike Enzi of Wyoming, have drafted would make everyone working on Capitol Hill buy insurance through the exchanges — with no subsidies. White House officials and political appointees in the executive branch would also be required to obtain health insurance through the exchanges. The Congressional Leadership Empire decided to strike back at Vitter. Politico reported that 
several Democratic senators have asked staff to draft legislation that would deny federal health subsidies to anyone who votes for the Vitter plan, even if Vitter’s plan doesn’t become law. An even more spiteful draft bill would bar subsidies to any lawmaker or aide found by a congressional ethics committee to have “engaged in the solicitation of prostitution.” In 2007, Vitter’s phone number was found in the records of the “D.C. Madam,” the owner of a high-end prostitution ring. Back then, Vitter held a news conference with his wife standing next to him and apologized for a “serious sin” that he refused to discuss further. He was reelected with 57 percent of the vote in 2010.
Vitter isn’t taking the attempts to strong-arm him quietly. “Harry Reid is acting like an old-time Vegas mafia thug, and a desperate one at that,” he said in a statement to Politico. He also wrote a letter to the Senate Ethics Committee demanding an investigation of Reid and Democratic senator Barbara Boxer of California. “Threatening to take away their colleagues’ health care coverage subsidy if they do not vote a certain way, at worst constitutes bribery and a quid pro quo arrangement, and at best amounts to improper conduct,” he wrote. Senator Reid’s office responded by calling Vitter’s charges “absurd and baseless.”
This is John Fund at National Review Online.
Wow. That is crazy.
“Harry Reid is acting like an old-time Vegas mafia thug, and a desperate one at that”
This couldn’t be more true.
It would be pretty amazing to see high ranking U.S. officials not receiving timely or quality health care resulting in adverse health effects. Too bad for them, but the point would be made.
But if that happened then healthcare would probably be defunded! hmm, maybe that is not such a bad idea.
There are many ways to skin a cat, Republicans are trying them all.
“absurd and baseless.”
Do words have meaning? He couldn’t have meant this.
Maybe he got confused and was talking about his own position, because his position is certainly absurd.
Definitely had to have been.
What an absolute waste of tax payer money and congressional time.
“Business as usual”…
All of this effort is being spent on Capitol Hill to have the citizens purchase health care through subsidies, yet these “officials” are fighting like cats and dogs to not do what they are requiring us to do?
Lead by example, please.
They know that it isn’t good.
“The confrontation is a perfect illustration of just how wide the gulf in attitudes is between the Beltway and the rest of the country — and how viciously Capitol Hill denizens will fight for their privileges.”
It is absolutely ridiculous that those on Capitol Hill can, with a straight face, insist upon exempting themselves from the rules that apply to the rest of us.
Capitol Hill’s conduct is appalling, as usual.
I always assumed that kind of legislation was illegal. To single out a single car for subsidies, they had to specify everything but the name and model. I would love to see stuff like this done from the other side. That BO care would only apply to districts that voted for it would be awesome.