U.S. judge dismisses Republican lawsuit over Obamacare subsidy for Congress

By Brendan O'Brien MILWAUKEE (Reuters) – A federal judge has thrown out a U.S. Senator's legal challenge to a part of President Barack Obama's healthcare law that grants health insurance subsidies for members of Congress and their staffs. U.S. Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin had challenged the right of the federal government to continue making employer contributions to Congressional health insurance plans even when lawmakers and their staff purchase coverage through new Obamacare online exchanges. U.S. District Judge William Griesbach, in Green Bay, dismissed the lawsuit on Monday, saying Johnson had failed to show he had been harmed by the regulation. "There is nothing in the Constitution stipulating that all wrongs must have remedies, much less that the remedy must lie in federal court," Griesbach, who was appointed by former President George W. Bush, said in his decision.