mr. vitter: yes. mr. durbin: if the senator is stating that no one under an insurance exchange, no one, can receive employer contribution for health insurance, he is wrong, flat wrong. mr. vitter: reclaiming my time, i did not say the that and i will not state that. what i did state is that there is no subsidy available for members of congress and congressional staff under the obamacare statute. there is no provision in the statute for that old fehbp subsidy to magically re-do itself as an exchange subsidy. there is absolutely no provision of that whatsoever. and, folks, these 8 million americans who are forced out of the plans they liked, they're not getting a subsidy. they're going to the individual exchange and they're getting no comparable subsidy. now, if they're a low enough income, they get a subsidy. mr. dus durbin: will the senator yield further? the presiding officer: the senator from louisiana's time has expired. mr. vitter: thank you, mr. and i would urge again that the senate stand tall, stan

mr. vitter: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from louisiana. mr. thank you, madam president. madam president, i rise to encourage the hoition house -- the house of representatives to consider and pass what they seem to be focused on a compromise resolution to the crisis before us which includes no washington exemption language regarding obamacare. i strongly support, of course, that language and i strongly support that discussion and i effort in the house. and i really encourage all of our house colleagues to look hard at that and act on that and particularly i'd encourage my louisiana colleagues to do that. madam president, i've purnd thid this issue ever since we got back from the august recess. as you know, madam president, right as we went into that august recess, the obama administration issued a rule, an illegal rule, in my opinion, without statutory authority contrary to the obamacare statute that lives members of congress and congressional staff special status, a special exemption or a special subsidy, if you will, not in the law and one not

mr. vitter over on the senate has been trying to do that amendment. if it was successful, she would be required to do so. as we say what's good for the goose is good for the gander, right? members of congress, personal staff we are participants in those exchanges as we should be and. >> you you will be next change and your staff will be in the exchange? >> yes, they will be. >> but you don't have to be. >> well, we lose, actually the way that it's written we do lose our ability to be in fehb the federal employee health benefit program, and therefore am put into the exchange. so i will be in the exchange and so will my personal staff. >> when she comes back in december you want to know how many people have enrolled, right? >> well, we are hearing numbers all over the map. we are hearing, of course, that more people are being told that they are going to be -- that their individual policies are cancelled. and we're hearing, you know, don't know exactly what these numbers are state by state. if you add them up, it's unlikely that the number of people that

mr. vitter and i can work with the chairman on this. i ask the gentleman from pennsylvania to please hold these hearings and to review all projects that have received a chiefs report. mr. shuster: if i could reserve my answer until i have -- i recognize the gentleman from massachusetts for a 30-second colloquy. the chair: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized for 30 seconds. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you, mr. chairman. it's the exact same situation with boston. it was two weeks past the deadline. i know we have already spoken. i know you're more than willing to help us do what we need to do, i appreciate that and i'm just here to say thank you. mr. shuster: with that i yield 30 seconds for the purposes of a colloquy to the gentleman from california, mr. denham. the chair: the gentleman from california is recognized for 30 seconds. mr. denham: let me thank you for your leadership, not only on this bill but on the transportation and infrastructure committee. it's truly bipartisan. i want t

mr. welch makes a good point. we also have the vittert on the table where the congress and the executive branch should not be exempt. give me one more, mr. hensley, that would solve this problem, because we make a deal tonight to fix it. >> well, i wish we could, larry, but, you know, peter was talking about the constitutional process, and i think that's very important. listen, the constitution gives congress the power of the purse. i know the president has read the constitution and believes it says the power of the rubber stamp. listen, i understand the democrats have the white house. i understand they have the senate, about you republicans have the house, and we are not going to rubber stamp what the president wants to do. all we've heard again is my way or the highway. there are lots of things we would be willing and want to have on the table. listen, i'm a veteran of simpson bowles, where the president has paid lip service to doing something, but hasn't done something. again, i don't understand, if obama care is good enough for the a

if we do, we'll defeat this vitter amendment if it ever comes back for consideration. so, mr. president, i think that obamacare started, although there have been some bumps in the road, that's for sure, but now that we have these marketplaces open, people are going to see what the opportunities are, and as most people know, members of congress and many of their staff members are going to be covered by the same insurance as everyone's buying in the insurance marketplace. not all congressional staff members are involved, but many will be. members of congress will all be directed to the insurance exchange if that's what they choose to buy for their families. i'm prepared to do that. i think it will be quality health insurance, which is what every american deserves. mr. president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. brown: thank you, mr. president. i want to thank senator durbin for his speech, the assistant majority leader. after one of the -- one of the privileges of this job, as the senator from connecticut knows, the senior senator from connect

mr. vitter: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i rise -- the presiding officer: the senate will be in order. mr. vitter: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i rise to speak on this nomination and to oppose it because of the recent actions of the office of personnel management with regard to the washington exemption from obamacare. i voted just now against cloture on the nomination and i will vote against the nomination itself later today because of these very, very serious matters. o.p.m., the office to which this nominee is nominated and which she would head, has issued an illegal rule that is very offensive, flies in the face of the obamacare statute language itself. and this nominee has pledged to continue to enforce that illegal rule and illegal policy. furthermore, o.p.m. has completely stonewalled members, including myself, my colleague, senator heller, others regarding how they came to that decision and, importantly, who they talk with, who they e-mailed with, who they met with in coming to that decision to