The highway trust fund has just 10 days of life left in it and passing longer-term funding has been a real priority for all of Congress. But you know what happens with high priority legislation with tight deadlines when there are Republicans around, don't you. Especially when it's Republicans running for president. It's hostage-taking time! Rand Paul has already made
veiled filibuster threats over Planned Parenthood. Now Ted Cruz is getting in on the act, but he's
taking on Obamacare, as usual, for his fight and is teaming up with Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) on it.
Sen. David Vitter’s crusade against congressional health care benefits will continue this week, this time with help from a presidential hopeful.
The Lousisiana Republican is expected to introduce “No Exemptions” legislation to combat the employer contribution for lawmakers, and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is expected to copy the language and try to insert it as an amendment into the highway funding bill the Senate is set to consider this week.
Cruz and Vitter have vigorously opposed the government contribution to congressional health care under the Affordable Care Act, calling it a “Washington exemption.” Lawmakers and their staffs were able to maintain that contribution as the result of a 2013 Office of Personnel Management ruling that House and Senate employees could participate in the D.C. Small Business Health Option Program, rather than enroll on the individual exchanges.
That's just fantastic. Vitter's colleagues have been
clearly fed up with this crusade of his and he has become
a complete pariah within the Republican conference because of it. Well, not a complete pariah I guess. He's got Cruz—
"The Most Hated Man in the Senate"—on his side.
Meanwhile, bridges are washing out and highways are crumbling and the short season in which critical construction work can be done in much of the country is ticking away. That's something every member of Congress is thinking about right now, knowing that they're going to have to spend most of August back home, explaining to their constituents why the potholes from last winter still haven't been filled. Except for Paul and Cruz, of course. They'll be in Iowa or New Hampshire, letting the folks know how they've been standing up against the establishment.