Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., contends rule goes against the will of Congress.

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., contends rule goes against the will of Congress. J. Scott Applewhite/AP

Senator Threatens to Hold Up OPM Nominee Over Obamacare Rule Spat

Chairman of oversight committee has long sought documents related to a rule allowing congressional staff to purchase insurance on a small business exchange and receive employer subsidies.

The chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee threatened Wednesday to halt the confirmation of nominees to key positions at the Office of Personnel Management until he is confident the agency will comply with long-running requests for documents related to the Affordable Care Act’s implementation.

The committee held hearings Wednesday for President Trump’s nominees to be director and deputy director of OPM. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., asked Jeff Pon, the White House’s pick for director of the agency, whether he would commit to providing all documentation relating to a 2013 OPM rule allowing employees of Congress to purchase insurance on the D.C. Small Business Health Options Plan exchange and receive an employer subsidy. 

“The request I believe has been recognized at OPM and they’re in the process of providing you documentation,” Pon said. “I don’t know the extent of the documentation, and if confirmed I will look into this issue personally. If there is documentation to be provided, I will inform you what the status is and make sure we will follow up on this.”

Johnson has for years sought information relating to the rule. The senator has contended that the decision went against the will of Congress, since the Senate voted against an amendment to the ACA allowing an employer contribution for legislative branch employees ahead of the bill’s passage. Republicans never confirmed Beth Cobert to be permanent OPM director in part because of the issue.

“I’ll just put the administration on notice,” Johnson said. “They’ve told us that they’ll begin document production on a rolling basis. But unless I’m satisfied that it’s being done in good faith and I’m confident that I’m going to get all of the documentation, no offense to you, but I’ll be holding up your nomination.”

Despite Johnson’s threat, the hearing went relatively smoothly for Pon and for OPM deputy director nominee Michael Rigas. Senators from both parties asked the nominees how they would approach long-running issues with the federal government’s human resources department, including difficulties in hiring people in a timely manner; fallout from the 2015 hack of OPM’s database of employees, retirees and job candidates; and backlogs in processing security clearance and retirement requests.

“In the past I’ve had to push the bureaucracy to get results,” Pon said. “We need to simplify things, make sure managers have drop down menus for job descriptions, and we need automated tracking systems, which can speed up the process quite a bit. We hope we can get hiring down to a reasonable amount of time. Three months is a long time, so we’ve got to get under that.”

Rigas said his No. 1 priority as deputy director of OPM would be to improve the agency’s IT and cybersecurity infrastructure.

“I will work with our internal and external stakeholders involved in the IT area for OPM, including the chief information officer and the chief information security officer, to assess what progress has been made to date,” Rigas said. “[I would see] what the plans are for ongoing progress, assess if we need to change course, and see if we’re on target to meet the security data protection needs that the federal government demands and that the public would demand for federal employee data.”

But Pon seemed initially reluctant to say how he would handle the agency’s ongoing efforts to train federal managers and employees on the issue of workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, when asked by Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., about Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ memo establishing a stricter reading of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

“If confirmed, I would take a look at what current practices are and enforce the law as it stands right now,” Pon said. “My job is to make sure that we implement and surround that implementation with training and development so that agencies can uphold the law.”

“Do you understand you would not be in violation of the law to continue the practice of ensuring that federal employees are trained to avoid, to detect and to report discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation,” Harris responded.

“If confirmed I would make sure I understand the law and enforce the law,” Pon said.

“What do you believe the law to be right now, as it relates to discrimination against people based on gender identity or sexual orientation?” Harris asked.

“As you’ve indicated, training and development based on making sure we don’t discriminate based on sexual orientation or gender identity is the current law,” Pon said.

Johnson encouraged Pon and Rigas, once confirmed, to be proactive and come to committee members whenever they find themselves hamstrung by an arcane rule or regulation.

“We operate in a very bipartisan fashion, trying to solve problems,” he said. “So help us help you. Don’t hesitate to contact this committee for those types of legislative solutions. We can react very quickly and effectively to get those things passed.”

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.