As a candidate, President Obama repeatedly called for airing the health care reform debate on C-SPAN, but now that he’s in office — and personally involved in negotiations — the White House says no cameras.
At the same time, Democrats scrapped plans to reconcile House and Senate versions of health care legislation in committee, meaning some of the now-secret meetings on the bill are happening at the White House.
“I don’t think there’s anybody that would say that we haven’t had a thorough, robust, now spanning two calendar years’ debate on health care,” said press secretary Robert Gibbs.
Republicans, now pushed out of the process, are joining open-government watchdog groups in criticizing the administration for its lack of transparency.
“Let’s be clear: Skipping a real, open conference would shut out the American people and break one of President Obama’s signature campaign promises,” said House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio. “It would be a disgrace — to the Democratic leaders if they do it, and to the president who broke his word.”
During the 2008 presidential campaign, Obama on several occasions proposed putting the health care debate on C-SPAN. The plan was part of his larger agenda on government transparency.
“These negotiations will be on C-SPAN, and so the public will be part of the conversation and will see the choices that are being made,” then-candidate Obama told the San Francisco Chronicle at the time. A clip of that statement, and others specifically pledging to bring C-SPAN into the negotiations, was an online hit Wednesday.
In a letter to Democratic leaders in Congress, C-SPAN Chief Executive Brian Lamb cited Obama’s stated commitment to transparency in asking for access to the negotiations, which generally take place behind closed doors.
Although the president does not control access to conference committee deliberations, a push from the White House could open the meetings up to C-SPAN.
Gibbs tried to sidestep reporters’ questions about Obama’s C-SPAN promise, saying he hadn’t seen Lamb’s letter. Democratic leaders have not responded to Lamb’s request.
Removing the reconciliation process from bipartisan committee and limiting that debate to a smaller number of congressional leaders and the president makes public access to the discussions even less likely.
Patrice McDermott, director of the government transparency watchdog group OpenTheGovernment.org, expressed disappointment with the administration’s stance.
“Certainly my coalition supports maximum openness and we think this is not an unreasonable request,” McDermott said. “I think legislation and issues of importance to our country should be done as much in the open as possible.”
Obama in recent days has been taking a more hands-on approach to shaping the final health care bill. In a private meeting at the White House, Obama urged Democratic lawmakers to wrap up a final version in time for his State of the Union address.
Gibbs declined to address whether Obama has broken a campaign pledge, saying the president’s top priority is getting a bill done quickly.
