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Burgess Receives Lip-Service From White House On Inquiry Into Health Negotiations
Posted by on January 27, 2010 | comments
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After months of silence – 119 days, to be exact – yesterday Congressman Michael C. Burgess, M.D. (R-Texas), a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, finally received a letter from the White House in response to his September 30, 2009, request for information on meetings at the White House relating to health care reform. Specifically, Burgess asked for details on any deals made with health industry groups during a meeting in May, where stakeholders promised to reduce the health care cost curve by upwards of $2 Trillion, but offered limited details as to how this goal would be achieved.

“While the Democratic Majority was ramming a health reform bill through both chambers of Congress, and Members were expected to debate these far-reaching bills, the real deals were being cut at the White House behind closed doors,” Burgess said. “How can Congress be expected to do our job when several important details about the legislation were being kept from us? I thought it was very important that Congress and the American public know who was involved in the White House negotiations and what was agreed to, and I still do.”

In May 2009, representatives from six health industry organizations with deep interests in health care reform - Advanced Medical Technology Association, the American Medical Association, America’s Health Insurance Plans, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the American Hospital Association, and the Service Employees International Union – met at the White House. When the participants emerged from the meeting, an agreement was announced that they would work to decrease by 1.5 percentage points the annual health care spending growth rate. Since then, however, questions from Burgess as to how this would be accomplished have been left unanswered.

In his second attempt to retrieve the information, Burgess introduced in December H. Res. 983, a Resolution of Inquiry directing the President to release, once and for all, the requested information. That resolution is set to be marked-up in the House Energy and Commerce Committee today at 2:00 p.m. Eastern. Yesterday, less than 24 hours before the mark-up, he finally received a letter from White House Counsel, which was accompanied by almost 80 pages of already-public White House visitor logs, pages printed off the White House web site, and text of speeches and press statements from the White House – a far cry from the information requested in Burgess’ September letter.

To view the letter and information sent by the White House, click here.

“When it became clear to me that the White House had no intention of responding to my letter, this resolution of inquiry, a powerful yet uncommon tool for getting information, became my only option,” Burgess said. “It is very important that details on any negotiations made behind closed doors are made public and available for all to see. The integrity of the process and of health reform legislation is at stake.”

“President Obama promised to run the most transparent and open Administration in history, and his decision to hoard this information from Congress and the American people is dishonorable,” Burgess concluded.

WHAT: Mark-Up Of H. Res. 983, Burgess’ Resolution of Inquiry on Health Reform Secret Deals

WHEN: TODAY – Wednesday, January 27, 2010 - 2:00 p.m. Eastern

WHERE: House Energy and Commerce Committee Room, 2123 Rayburn House Office Building

NOTE: A media availability will be held outside of the Committee Room immediately following the conclusion of the mark-up.


Congressman Michael C. Burgess, M.D., is a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and three of its subcommittees: Health, Energy & Environment, and Oversight & Investigations. He is also a member of the bipartisan, bicameral Joint Economic Committee. Prior to becoming a member of Congress in 2002, Congressman Burgess practiced medicine in North Texas for over 25 years.
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