Vitter Demands Answers from Top OPM Nominee on Washington's Obamacare Exemption

Press Release

U.S. Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) sent a letter to Beth Cobert, nominee to be Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and current Acting Director, requesting information related to the special health care exemption given to Members of Congress and congressional staff. The U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs will hold a nomination hearing with Cobert on Thursday.

"OPM is largely responsible for Washington's Obamacare Exemption, and for years now, top level officials have shunted all oversight and accountability for their bad decisions. Any potential OPM Director needs to explain the unnecessarily secretive process that protects Members of Congress from the burden they imposed on American citizens," said Vitter. "Congress should be required to live under the same health care laws they imposed for the rest of the country. That's just commonsense."

In October 2013, Vitter sent a letter to Elaine Kaplan, then-Director of OPM, requesting the agency to turn over all correspondence they had with the Obama Administration, Members of Congress, and their congressional staff related to the final Obamacare rule that allowed Congress to receive their employer contribution and allowed for some congressional staff to avoid Obamacare all together.

In February 2015, Vitter sent a letter to Katherine Archuleta, then-Director of OPM, regarding his hold on the nomination of Earl L. Gay to be OPM Deputy Director. Vitter cited OPM's failure to thoroughly answer questions regarding the Washington Obamacare Exemption.

As Chairman of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, Vitter published a report in July 2015 entitled, "Above the People: An Investigation of Congress' Fraudulent Obamacare Subsidy and the Cover Up to Continue the Special Exemption." The Chairman's Report documents the process by which Congress exempted itself from Obamacare by registering itself as a small business, even though it has over 16,000 employees, in order to enable the purchase of health insurance by Members and staff on a Small Business Health Options Plan (SHOP) exchange established by the Affordable Care Act. To qualify as a small business within the SHOP exchange, an entity must have no more than 50 employees.

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