Congressional Leadership Aides Exempt From Bill?

By Reid Wilson
Hotline On Call
Mar. 23, 2010

House GOP aides and the non-partisan Congressional Research Service believe health care legislation passed this week requires lawmakers to enroll in government-run insurance programs -- while exempting leadership staffers, many of whom were instrumental in crafting the bill.

Top staffers buzzed yesterday on an off-the-record Capitol Hill list-serv, citing the part of the mammoth legislation that deals with members of Congress. The federal government can only make available to members and their official staffs health plans created by the bill or offered through an exchange.

But a member's staff, in a subsection of the bill, is defined as "full-time and part-time employees employed by the official office of a Member of Congress, whether in Washington, DC or outside of Washington, DC." CRS has interpreted that clause to mean the bill applies only to a personal office, not to committee staff or leadership staff.

CRS reports are confidential unless a member of Congress makes one public. The interpretation of the legislation was provided to Hotline OnCall by a GOP aide involved in the list-serv on condition of anonymity.

The loophole for leadership staffers could impact thousands of Hill employees. There are 16 active leadership offices in the House and 26 in the Senate, according to the government transparency website LegiStorm. Some are small, with just a few employees. Others are much larger; Speaker Nancy Pelosi paid 54 employees a total of $1.1M in the last quarter of '09, while House Min. Leader John Boehner paid his 26 staffers a total of $721K in the same quarter.

Leaving out committee staffers means aides at the 24 standing House committees and the 20 Senate panels will each be exempted as well, if CRS's interpretation of the measure stands.