GOP lawmaker who lectured Obamacare recipients on iPhones uses donors’ cash to pay campaign phone bills

Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) faced criticism on Tuesday morning after appearing on CNN to discuss the GOP's proposed Obamacare replacement plan. Chaffetz argued that Americans are personally responsible for their health care, rather than it being a service that the U.S. government should provide.

"You know what, Americans have choices, and they’ve got to make a choice," he said. "And so maybe, rather than getting that new iPhone that they just love and want to go spend hundreds of dollars on, maybe they should invest in their own health care." That's easy to say, for someone who doesn't pay his own phone bill.

According to the Federal Election Commission, Chaffetz's political action committee (PAC) uses donors' money to pay for its phone bills. The 2014 document, which Intercept reporter Lee Fang shared on Twitter, shows that Chaffetz's "rich donors" paid multiple Verizon Wireless bills between May and July of 2014, totaling nearly $1,000. Chaffetz's campaign donations came from corporations, including Pfizer, Inc. and Goldman Sachs.

Fang also noted that Chaffetz spent $738 in campaign dollars at the Apple Store, according to a Friends of Jason Chaffetz PAC receipts and disbursements report published by the Federal Election Commission.

The monthly installments to pay off a new phone are significantly lower than the average monthly premium for an individual health care plan, and unlike Chaffetz, most Americans don't have corporate campaign dollars paying their phone bills.