HOUSE ALSO UNANIMOUSLY PASSES MCSALLY BILL STRIKING AHCA EXEMPTIONS FOR MEMBERS OF CONGRESS

[SirLinksALot]

SOURCE: U.S. Representative Martha McSally's Website

URL: https://mcsally.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/house-unanimously-passes-mcsally-bill-striking-ahca-exemptions-members



May 4, 2017 Press Release

WASHINGTON, DC—The House of Representatives today unanimously passed U.S. Representative Martha McSally’s legislation to prevent Members of Congress and their staff from being exempt from the State waiver provisions of the American Health Care Act (AHCA) as amended.

“Any law we pass that applies to our constituents must apply equally to Members of Congress as well. Anything short of that is hypocrisy. Congress must abide by the laws it passes and should be treated no differently than other hardworking Americans,” said Rep. McSally. “My measure eliminates double standards by preventing Members of Congress from exempting themselves from American Health Care Act.”

Due to Senate procedural rules within the Budget Reconciliation process, the MacArthur Amendment to the American Health Care Act would exempt Members of Congress and their staff. Rep. McSally’s legislation, H.R. 2192, is a standalone two-page bill that would repeal this exemption for Members of Congress should the American Health Care Act become law. The measure passed the House by a vote of 429-0.

To read the full bill text CLICK HERE: https://mcsally.house.gov/sites/mcsally.house.gov/files/2017.4.26%20McSally%20Exemption%20Draft.pdf

[SirLinksALot]

Ahhh, but wait .... WILL IT APPEAR IN THE SENATE VERSION?

[SirLinksALot]

For those who want to know --- WHO ON EARTH IS SHE?


Martha Elizabeth McSally (R-Arizona Second District) (born March 22, 1966) is a retired United States Air Force Colonel and politician who has been a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives since 2015. She was the first American woman to fly in combat following the 1991 lifting of the prohibition of women in combat, flying the A-10 over Iraq and Kuwait during Operation Southern Watch. She is the first woman to command a USAF fighter squadron, the 354th Fighter Squadron (354 FS) based at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base.

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

This should be Constitutionally prohibited I'm sorry.

I love the USSC, but founder fathers, you screwed up on this one.

Very aggravating.

Edit: "This" being Congressdirtbags exempting themselves. That should be prohibited by the USSC.

[Right_in_Virginia]

This is great news ... and tough from an optics point of view for the Senate to remove. 

[SirLinksALot]

This should be Constitutionally prohibited I'm sorry.

I love the USSC, but founder fathers, you screwed up on this one.

Very aggravating.

Edit: "This" being Congressdirtbags exempting themselves. That should be prohibited by the USSC.

Yep, this bill SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN NECESSARY. That it was needed at all is a travesty.

[Maj. Bill Martin]

Yep, this bill SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN NECESSARY. That it was needed at all is a travesty.

The reason it was needed is due to the Senate's weird rules on reconciliation, which required that the original language be included in the main bill.  That meant that a separate bill was required to strip it out.

[bolobaby]

Not fooled. Congress is essentially exempt anyways, since the generous health care package they voted for themselves covers the requirements under the ACA and the AHCA amendment.

Why do you think it passed 429-0? Because there is no negative impact to them.

[DiogenesLamp]

This is great news ... and tough from an optics point of view for the Senate to remove.

Yes,  I consider this a good thing.    Make them live under the same laws they try to force on the rest of us. 

[DiogenesLamp]

Not fooled. Congress is essentially exempt anyways, since the generous health care package they voted for themselves covers the requirements under the ACA and the AHCA amendment.

Why do you think it passed 429-0? Because there is no negative impact to them.

It is symbolically important.   

[Bigun]

It is symbolically important.

So much so that even all the democrats voted for it.

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

Not fooled. Congress is essentially exempt anyways, since the generous health care package they voted for themselves covers the requirements under the ACA and the AHCA amendment.

Why do you think it passed 429-0? Because there is no negative impact to them.

Good point.

[bolobaby]

It is symbolically important.   

It's bread and circuses for the masses.

[rodamala]

It's bread and circuses for the masses.

+1

[RetBobbyMI]

The Senate won't stand to let that happen. The upper house of buffoons will protect their pockets at all cost.

[Emjay]

Yes,  I consider this a good thing.    Make them live under the same laws they try to force on the rest of us.

Me, too, but there is so much negativity on this Board today, it is seeping into me.  I need either a beer or a piece of chocolate.

[SZonian]

It's bread and circuses for the masses.

What's with all the negative vibes man...it's 4D chess, doncha know?

[Frank Cannon]

Not fooled. Congress is essentially exempt anyways, since the generous health care package they voted for themselves covers the requirements under the ACA and the AHCA amendment.

Why do you think it passed 429-0? Because there is no negative impact to them.

Exactly. This is a bucket of nothing.

[SirLinksALot]

FROM THE WASHINGTON POST ( EXCERPT ):

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/members-of-congress-and-their-aides-wont-be-exempted-in-the-gop-health-care-plan-but-theyre-unlikely-to-feel-the-impact-much-anyway/2017/05/04/d9ebe492-30fe-11e7-9dec-764dc781686f_story.html?utm_term=.b6819106f5dd

Lawmakers and congressional staff are unlikely to face higher premiums or fewer health-care benefits as a direct result of the House Republicans’ health-care plan for one big reason: they work in the District of Columbia.

That’s the conclusion of health-care experts who said Congress’s 535 lawmakers and the thousands of Capitol Hill staffers who work for them won’t be much affected by the American Health Care Act, which passed the House narrowly on Thursday.

This is despite the House’s move to nullify a provision in the amended bill that originally exempting them from the plan’s changes, according to several health-care experts.

The AHCA would allow states to opt out of current rules requiring health plans to cover a set of essential benefits and stopping insurers from charging higher premiums to people with preexisting conditions.

Members of Congress and their aides are unlikely to feel the impact of these changes, however, because they generally obtain health insurance through the small-group exchange operated by the Affordable Care Act-friendly District of Columbia. If the D.C. government continues to enforce the ACA’s protections, which most experts believe it will, lawmakers and staff could end up with more robust and less expensive coverage than constituents in states that are not as friendly to Obamacare.

“Even though they’re no longer exempting themselves, I think the likelihood of any of them facing higher premiums for preexisting conditions or not having access to a comprehensive set of benefits is pretty unlikely,” said Cynthia Cox, associate director for the Program for the Study of Health Reform and Private Insurance at the Kaiser Family Foundation, in an interview.