Wis. senator seeks to appeal recent decision regarding his health law challenge

The focus of the lawsuit by Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., is an Office of Personnel Management regulation that allows congressional staffers to get their health care subsidized under the law's exchanges. In other news, health issues are emerging as flashpoints in this year's Arkansas senate race.

The Fiscal Times: Another Lawmaker Sues Obama Over Health Care Law
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) filed an appeal on Monday to his lawsuit challenging a ruling issued by the Office of Personnel Management that allows congressional staff members to get their health care subsidized under the law's health exchanges. Under the Affordable Care Act, many on Capitol Hill and in the executive branch were required to trade in their government health insurance policies and purchase replacement policies in the new Obamacare insurance exchanges. The OPM ruling allowed them to get federal subsidies to act as employer contributions-;just as their previous government policies did. Johnson's lawsuit would overturn that ruling, forcing members and their employees to pay the full cost of premiums out of their own pockets (Ehley, 8/5).

The Associated Press: New Ads Buys Escalate Arkansas Senate Race
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee's new ad buy targets (Republican Rep. Tom) Cotton over his vote against funding pediatric research at Arkansas Children's Hospital. Democrats charge that the conservative Republican has failed to support federal programs important to Arkansas (DeMillo and Elliott, 8/5).