Vitter claims Congress lied to DC’s ObamaCare exchange

Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) is accusing congressional clerks of filing false information with the District of Columbia’s ObamaCare marketplace to ensure that lawmakers and staff could obtain subsidized health insurance through the system.

Vitter, a vocal critic of Congress’s employer healthcare subsidy, claimed Wednesday that Capitol Hill administrators ran afoul of ethics rules by classifying Congress as a “small business” on applications to participate in D.C.’s Small Business Exchange.

The House Clerk and Senate Disbursing Office also included fake names, defined Congress as a “state/local government,” and said the body employs 45 workers, Vitter claimed, citing a court filing by Judicial Watch, a conservative watchdog group.

“As you are well aware, if any business in the United States were to knowingly provide false information when applying for a state or federal program, it would likely face severe penalties,” Vitter wrote in letters to the clerks and the exchange sent Tuesday.

“[The D.C. exchange] has a responsibility to hold Congress to the same standard as any other business in the District of Columbia.”

Vitter asked the clerks to “confirm from which offices they were instructed to falsify these applications,” and to submit replies by the end of next week.

Requests for comment from the D.C. exchange and clerks’ offices were not immediately returned.

For several years, the Louisiana Republican has doggedly pursued ways to prevent lawmakers and staff from receiving a subsidy for their healthcare coverage from the federal government.

Congress obtains health insurance through the D.C. exchange under an ObamaCare provision intended to make Capitol Hill equal to people buying coverage on the marketplaces.