It’s not just groups like the Sunlight Foundation (which I included as part of FNV 18 last week) that demand transparency. Bill Wilson and Americans for Limited Government are clamoring for it as well, at least when it comes to health care.
Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today called upon leaders of the Senate and House to “implement real transparency” and to “post the final version of the health care takeover on the Internet for 14 days prior to any votes.”
“In the age of the Internet, Congress should be able to get the final bill up on government websites for a legitimate public review and comment period lasting two weeks, where constituent comments would be directly forwarded to the people’s Senators and Representatives,” Wilson said.
“There is too much at stake,” Wilson said, adding, “this is a bill that will nationalize one-sixth of the American economy, downgrade research and development in the medical sciences, take private options away from patients forcing them onto a government-run plan, ration health care away from seniors, and bankrupt the Treasury.”
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Wilson said that “with real transparency, such an unseemly deal would never be allowed to occur,” and today along with 23 other free market and limited government leaders called on Senate and House leaders to take up C-SPAN’s offer to televise negotiations reconciling both versions of the legislation, fulfilling a campaign promise made by Barack Obama.
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The 24 leaders noted that Obama “made such a promise at least eight times, yet it was reported last Tuesday that the Democrat congressional leadership will bypass the traditional conference committee process.”
Wilson said the broken C-SPAN pledge was “just the tip of the iceberg,” and that “the American people need the time to weigh in on what is actually the eighth version of the government health care takeover.”
Wilson said the eight versions of what he dubbed “ObamaCare” were: 1-3) three House committee versions; 4) HR 3200, the House passed version of “public option”; 5) Baucus co-ops, the Senate Finance Committee version; 6) the Senate “public option,” which Senator Joe Lieberman and other lawmakers objected to; 7) the Reid substitute that the Senate passed, and 8 ) the current House-Senate version that Congressional Democrats are now meeting on to discuss.
“This is too much for the American people to keep up with,” Wilson explained. “The biggest advantage this bill presently has is its intentional ambiguity. Every time they create a new bill with new provisions, once the details get out, it proves unpopular, and so they go back to the drawing board with yet another bill.”
That is why Wilson said the final version should be posted on the Internet for two weeks prior to any votes. “With a sufficient period for comment by the American people, there will be no question as to where they stand on a bill that threatens to take over one-sixth of the American economy by government.”
“National polls have shown overwhelming opposition to this legislation for months on end,” Wilson noted. “A major reason for that has been the lack of transparency: the secret deals for Nebraska and Louisiana; the fuzzy numbers used to manipulate CBO budget scoring to achieve a ‘deficit-neutral’ score; the use of the Medicare Independent ‘Advisory’ Board for health care rationing away from seniors; and the upward pressure the bill will place on health premiums that Congress does not want you to know about.”
“Overall, the public is getting the sense that Congress is trying to pull a fast one on the American people,” Wilson said, concluding, “Instead, here’s a novel idea: why not be transparent about what’s actually in the bill and let it pass or fail on its merits?”
To answer Bill’s last question, there are no merits to the health care bill so they can’t be transparent.
Have you ever noticed that things which Congress isn’t required to do, such as pass this Obamacare monstrosity, they try to rush through – but those tasks which they are supposed to do (like pass a budget) take forever? Remember, we were supposed to have this passed last summer but the outcry was so great that we’ve gone back to the drawing board. Too bad the bill is about the same even after all this time.
I was grousing to a friend of mine earlier this morning about the state of politics in Washington.
Perhaps it is “all politics” because this is an election year. But every year is an election year somewhere and frankly I’m sick of politicians catering to special interests and their craving for power rather than helping out Americans by getting out of the way.
I guess the true problem is that people like me who have such an attitude are also the ones who have no interest in directly solving the problem. Now if you could get 534 others who share my attitude into Congress I might be persuaded to step into the cesspool – but I don’t foresee that anytime soon.
With all that was promised about “transparency” it’s disappointing that Washington feels the need to hide and obfuscate those items they pass and regulations they come up with. Sure, there is often a public comment period for new regulations but there’s only so many hours in the day to attempt to catch up with everything offered from inside the Beltway. So comment usually falls to those lobbyists who specialize in the subject and wish to fix things more to the liking of their backers.
In short, government at all levels has simply become too big for its britches and, like many others at this time of year, it’s time for them to go on a crash diet and get into better shape. Talk about your biggest loser – if the government could somehow enter the competition and take slimming down seriously it would win hands down.
And so would we.
