Earlier this week, Congressman Steve Daines (R-MT) spoke out harshly against the Congressional exemption for Obamacare being worked out by the Obama Administration.
The issue is also rearing it’s head in the primary fight between Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY) and Liz Cheney in the race for US Senate in Wyoming.
From Politico’s Playbook:
2014 WATCH – WYOMING SENATE GOP PRIMARY — “Liz Cheney: [Sen.] Mike Enzi should ‘renounce’ deal,” by Katie Glueck: “In an email and online petition, she called on Enzi … to ‘renounce’ a recent agreement concerning health care payment for members of Congress and their staffs. … ‘The hypocrisy is stunning,’ she said in a statement. ‘But all too typical of how Congress works.’ … Enzi’s campaign spokesman fired back with a lengthy comment. ‘This was a decision by the Administration, not Congress,’ Coy Knobel said in an email. ‘Senator Enzi has already opposed it and the other exemptions and delays for businesses, insurance companies etc. Senator Enzi will continue his efforts to defund and dismantle Obamacare. He’ll make decisions about his own health care without help from candidate Cheney.'”
–PLAYBOOK FACTS OF LIFE: Yesterday’s release makes it clear that Liz Cheney plans to run as a Washington outsider — a tough tack when you recently moved from McLean, were a Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, and are the daughter of Dick and Lynn Cheney. But Liz’s campaign bio begins: “A fourth-generation Wyomingite, Liz grew up with the values that have long distinguished our state … Liz’s family … first settled in Wyoming in 1907.”
The Casper Star Tribune added:
Enzi’s camp responded that he doesn’t support special treatment for lawmakers and that few members of Congress have been working harder to defeat all of Obamacare’s provisions than Wyoming’s senior senator, who faces Cheney in a Republican primary challenge for his job.
When it comes to the US Senate race in Montana….if former Congressman Pat Williams is too old, what are they saying about similarly aged former Lt. Gov John Bohlinger (D-MT)?
cc John Bohlinger RT @dparkermontana: Don’t understand the Pat Williams stories. Good guy but “top” Sen cand at 77? Ah…NOT. #mtsen #MTPOL
— Chris Shipp (@CJShipp) August 14, 2013
@aaronflint DSCC and MT Dems will still tout their 11th (or 12th, 13th…) choice as a “top-tier” recruit #MTSen
— Chris Shipp (@CJShipp) August 13, 2013
While we’re on the US Senate, one commenter on this AP story asks a good question- how come they don’t identify which US Senator’s office is mentioned in the investigation of a federal fraud case in Montana?
One invoice claimed a man had contributed a set of Blackfeet storytelling CDs after he had suffered a stroke and was incapable of making such a contribution. Another claimed the staff of a U.S. senator from Montana contributed $80,000 in in-kind services to the project.
The commenter asks:
So when they say that the staff of a U.S. Senator contributed $80,000 in in-kind services, why don’t they identify which Senator? Why don’t they identify which members of his staff? Because if it was a U.S. Senator who’s not running again, and the member of his staff was his state director, that could be an issue…