Vitter holding forth on trying to take insurance away from his staff.
Like a very dumb dog with a chewed-to-nothing bone, Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) just can't let go of congressional staff able to get health insurance with a subsidy through Obamacare. For five years he's been thrashing this one around, and finally his own Republican colleagues—in a
committee he chairs!—have said "enough."
The Senate's Small Business Committee on Thursday denied its chairman's request to subpoena documents from the D.C. insurance marketplace, which he said would prove that some in Congress evaded ObamaCare rules. […]
In a surprising vote, five Republicans joined the committee's nine Democrats to oppose the subpoena. That GOP group includes Sen. Mike Enzi (Wyo.), who had previously co-sponsored a bill with Vitter on the issue. Republican Sens. Jim Risch (Idaho), Deb Fischer (Neb.), Rand Paul (Ky.) and Kelly Ayotte (N.H.) also voted against the subpoena. […]
Vitter's staff had previously said that all GOP senators, except Paul, would vote "yes."
Those, with the exception of Ayotte, aren't even what you could remotely call moderate Republicans. Part of the problem could be that the Small Business Committee doesn't have anything at all to do with oversight of the health insurance exchanges or with overseeing the federal government's human resources operation. Jurisdiction isn't often something that stands in the way of a Republican wanting to bash the administration, however. Maybe they're all just finally tired of Vitter's one-man crusade to take health insurance away from the staff they all rely on.