According to a report in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Wisconsin Sen. Ron “Sunspots” Johnson plans to file a federal lawsuit on Monday challenging a federal rule that allows members of Congress and their staffs to continue to receive health benefits similar to other federal employees.
The lawsuit stems from a provision in the Affordable Care Act that requires members of Congress and their staffs to buy health insurance on the marketplaces set up through the law.
A rule released last summer by the Office of Personnel Management stated that the federal government could continue to contribute to the cost of health benefits for members of Congress and their staffs — just as it does for other federal employees — even though they would be buying health insurance on a marketplace.
They also would be able to pay their share of the cost with pretax dollars, the same as other federal employees as well as employees who get health benefits through an employer.
In a telephone interview Friday, Johnson said he was filing the lawsuit because he believed President Barack Obama was continuing the historical trend of presidents’ chipping away at the power of Congress.
Predictably, Sen. Johnson’s lawsuit will be headed up by Rick “Shark and Shepherd” Esenberg of the right-wing Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, which is funded generously by the equally right-wing Bradley Foundation.
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