{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=413388", "In bicameral letter Members of Congress put federal agency on notice for violating the law by allowing congressional health plans to subsidize abortion", "2024-10-09", "2024", "2024-10", "Republican", "House", "NJ", "Christopher H. Smith", "S000522", "chrissmith.house.gov", "chrissmith", "https://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentquery.aspx", "scraper", "In a bicameral letter to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) today, more than two dozen Members of Congress\u2014led by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Rep. Eric Burlison (R-MO), and Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT)\u2014admonished the human resources agency for violating federal law that prohibits congressional health plans from subsidizing elective abortion.\n\n\u201cIt is a clear violation of the Smith Amendment for health plans available to Members and staff to offer elective abortion,\u201d wrote the 22 House Members and 4 Senators, who noted the provision\u2014which was first authored by Rep. Chris Smith\u2014has been renewed annually for nearly 30 years.\n\nThe letter comes on the heels of reports that Aetna\u2014currently the sole provider of congressional-eligible plans that comply with the Smith Amendment by excluding coverage of elective abortion\u2014will stop offering health plans on Washington, DC\u2019s Affordable Care Act exchange known as DC Health Link. Congressional Members and staff have been advised that only two plans that do not cover elective abortion will be made available for the upcoming plan year.\n\n\u201cUnder the Smith Amendment, OPM is prohibited from engaging in administrative activity in connection with any plan that subsidizes elective abortion, let alone almost all of them,\u201d the lawmakers continued.\n\n\u201cThe severity of OPM\u2019s specious implementation of\u2014or perhaps malicious disregard for\u2014the law must be finally and permanently remedied and brought into compliance with congressional intent,\u201d the lawmakers wrote.\n\nAs a result of Aetna\u2019s withdrawal from the exchange, Members of Congress and staff enrolled in Aetna plans will be forced to select new health plans during their upcoming \u201copen season,\u201d which is scheduled for November 11 through December 9, 2024.\n\n\u201cIn Plan Year 2024, Aetna offered eight health plans that did not subsidize elective abortion,\u201d the lawmakers wrote. \u201cThe situation has now deteriorated to the point that Members of Congress and their designated staff have only two plans available to them in 2025.\u201d\n\n\u201cThis outcome is a tragic result of OPM\u2019s illegal policies,\u201d the lawmakers continued. \u201cThe fact that plans available to congressional personnel have not properly excluded abortion coverage has been an ongoing well-documented violation of federal law by the Office of Personnel Management.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe call on you to cease the administration of government contributions for Congressional health insurance plans that illegally cover elective abortion; instead direct the D.C. Health Link and its participating insurers to provide compliant health insurance plans to Members of Congress and their staff,\u201d the lawmakers urged OPM Acting Director Shriver.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-07T21:57:20Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=413388"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.719493418931961, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}