Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) and Sen. Barbara Boxer (D., Calif.) recently defended special insurance subsidies for Congressional workers in the new Obamacare exchanges:
HARRY REID: Although many of these Republicans have gladly allowed the federal government to pay for a portion of their own health insurance for years, decades some of them, they now want to force 16,000 Congressional employees to cover the full costs of their health insurance. If Republican senators believe they should bear the full cost of their own health insurance, they should decline the employer contribution and pay their own way. They should stop being hypocritical. They should practice what they preach. Punishing 16,000 innocent Congressional workers is simply mean-spirited.
Per a legally dubious ruling from the Office of Personnel Management, Congressional workers will have special access to subsidies when they purchase their insurance through the Obamacare exchanges, unlike average middle class consumers.
Republicans have seized on the hypocritical runaround, insisting that any compromise to fund the government include a provision ensuring Congressional workers are treated equally in the exchanges.
Democrats, in a desperate attempt to avoid foisting Obamacare on their own staffs, continue to accuse Republicans of being "mean spirited" simply because the GOP believes Congressional workers should be treated the same as the public: