U.S. Sen. David Vitter (R-La.), Chairman of the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Committee, made the following statement regarding the Committee’s vote on a subpoena to find out who is responsible for allowing the U.S. House and U.S. Senate to apply to the DC Healthlink small business exchange in order to receive special Obamacare subsidies. Those applications claimed the legislative bodies were “small businesses” with 45 employees because they would not qualify otherwise. The motion to issue the subpoena failed 5 yeas to 14 nays.

“The message is clear: Congress should be able to lie so that members can get a special Obamacare subsidy unavailable to anyone else at that income level. Designating the House and Senate as "small businesses" with 45 employees is not right. And we owe it to our constituents to find out how this was permitted to happen,” said Vitter. “I will continue to investigate this and to fight Washington’s special Obamacare exemption until Congress has to live under the law just like the rest of America.”

In 2014, someone on Senate staff was directed or permitted to submit an application to the DC Health Link small business exchange designating all of the Senate as a “small business” and stating that total Senate employees numbered 45. Vitter has been investigating how this was allowed to happen.

Senators on the committee were noticed of the vote on the subpoena and invited to attend the business meeting on April 17th or to submit proxies. They voted as follows:

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