Rand Paul: Obamacare should apply to chief justice

Catalina Camia | USA TODAY

More than a year after Chief Justice John Roberts cast the deciding vote to uphold President Obama's health care law, some conservatives are still upset with his ruling. Count Sen. Rand Paul, no friend of the law, among them.

The Kentucky Republican told the Daily Callerthat he's going to propose a constitutional amendment that would require all federal government employees — including the chief justice — to buy their health insurance through the new health exchanges that begin Oct. 1 under the Affordable Care Act.

"My amendment says basically that everybody, including Justice Roberts — who seems to be such a fan of 'Obamacare' — gets it, too," Paul told the conservative website in an interview. He also singled out Roberts in a tweet, with a link to the Daily Caller story.

A constitutional amendment is a tall order, especially in a divided Congress in which Paul serves in a chamber controlled by Democrats. But his effort points to the ongoing fight over Obama's health care law, which is at the center of a larger dispute over funding the government. If a stopgap funding bill — without a measure to defund the health care law — is not passed by the end of the month, the government could shut down.

At the same time, some conservatives are upset over a provision that requires members of Congress and their staffs to buy health insurance through the health exchanges, or marketplaces, that launch Oct. 1. The Office of Personnel Management ruled that the federal government can continue to provide a subsidy to Congress and their staffs to use the marketplaces, which Sen. David Vitter, R-La.., is trying to block.

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