DEAR LEADER GRANTS CAPITOL HILL A WAIVER

There he goes again.

For the past few months, members of Congress and their staffs have been discussing behind closed doors the worrying proposition that they will be forced off their popular health insurance program and onto the federal insurance exchanges set up under Obamacare.  In other words, be forced to live by the same laws they passed for the rest of us.

Currently congressional staffers have 75% of their healthcare insurance paid by taxpayers, but if their Cadillac Congressional healthcare plan is ended and staffers are pushed into ObamaCare, many Congressional employees fear that their insurance costs will increase by thousands of dollars a year. This cost, many say, will force them to quit working in Washington.

Now the Dear Leader is promising to fix it all for them.

The Office of Personnel Management could issue the new regulation as early as today, Politico reported late Thursday night.

Lawmakers and staff can breathe easy — their health care tab is not going to soar next year.

The Office of Personnel Management, under heavy pressure from Capitol Hill, will issue a ruling that says the government can continue to make a contribution to the health care premiums of members of Congress and their aides, according to several Hill sources.

Just Wednesday, POLITICO reported that President Barack Obama told Democratic senators that he was personally involved in finding a solution.

Obama's involvement in solving this impasse was unusual, to say the least. But it came after serious griping from both sides of the aisle about the potential of a "brain drain." The fear, as told by sources in both parties, was that aides would head for more lucrative jobs, spooked by the potential for spiking health premiums.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid also confirmed a deal, saying "I'm glad it's done," according to Roll Call.
 
Some Republicans have joined Democrats in efforts to exempt staffers from ObamaCare, but not all. Senator Richard Burr of North Carolina recently said that Congress should have to live with the same law that everyone else does.

"I have no problems with Congress being under the same guidelines," Burr said. "I think if this is going to be a disaster - which I think it's going to be - we ought to enjoy it together with our constituents."

A spokesperson for the House Ways and Means Committee chaired by Republican Dave Camp of Michigan echoed Sen. Burr's sentiment.

"If the ObamaCare exchanges are good enough for the hardworking Americans and small businesses the law claims to help," the spokesperson said, "then they should be good enough for the president, vice president, Congress and federal employees."

Why should the people's representatives get special treatment? Maybe they should have read the health law more carefully before they voted for it. Regardless, it would be a disservice to millions of hard-working Americans and their families for the Obama Regime or Congress to jam through special favors rather than repeal an unpopular, unworkable, and unaffordable law.

With less than two months left until enrollment opens for ObamaCare's insurance exchanges, now is the time for Americans to speak out against the unfair political maneuverings and out-of-control spending within ObamaCare.