PRESS RELEASES
For Immediate Release
Friday, February 13, 2009
Stimulus:
What
Transparency?
Scramble, Scribbles, and
Obstruction
Minneapolis/Saint Paul/Feb. 13, 2009 - In Congress' hurried
scramble to pass the Economic Stimulus bill (H.R.1), Congressional
leadership
prioritized speed, not public debate or an informed electorate.
"President Obama promised transparency to the American people. If this
is the Administration's idea of transparency, the public is going to
be
kept in the dark for the next four years," says Twila Brase, president
of Citizens' Council on Health Care
CCHC cites the following items as examples of prioritizing speed, not
public debate or an informed electorate:
1) Scribblings & Cross-Outs - Congressional leadership did
not
bother to put the bill together in its final form. Throughout the bill
there are scribbled
notes, inserts, crossed out sections, and clarifying arrows.
2) Patchwork of Provisions - the pages have been patched
together with
no sequential numbering, making it difficult to even discuss the bill.
For instance, Division A of the bill starts with three unnumbered pages
followed by
pages 2-3, followed by an unnumbered page, followed by pages 2 - 6,
followed by page 6A, followed by pages 7 - 28, followed by an
unnumbered page, followed by pages 2-10, followed by an unnumbered
page, followed by pages 2-5, followed by an unnumbered page, followed
by pages 2-26, followed by an unnumbered page, followed by pages 2-26,
followed by nine unnumbered pages, followed by pages 2-11, followed by
page 11A, followed by page 12, followed by an unnumbered page, followed
by pages 2 - 13, followed by an unnumbered page (start of Health and
Human Services spending - page 146 of pdf Section A document),
followed by pages
2 - 21, followed by 21A, followed by pages 22 - 46, followed by an
unnumbered page, followed by page 2, followed by an unnumbered page,
followed by pages 2-28, followed by an unnumbered page, followed by
pages 2-3, followed by an unnumbered page, followed by pages 2 - 19,
followed by insert 19A, followed by pages 20, 20A, 21-41, insert 41A,
and 42-57, followed by an unnumbered page (start of Title XIII,
Health
Information Technology - page 288 of pdf Section A document),
followed
by pages 2 - 139, etc.
3) Access Delayed or Denied - The bill was not available online
until after most of the public were in bed. Attempts to access the bill
this morning were difficult at best. The Speaker's website was
temporarily shut down.
Attempts to download the bill or its divisions proved difficult or
impossible from various committee websites. And the link
on the Speaker's and the Rules Committee websites brought up a U.S.
House page that said:
Media Contact:
Twila Brase, RN, PHN
President
651-646-8935 office
- CCHC -
Citizens' Council on Health Care supports freedom for patients and doctors, medical innovation, and the right to a confidential patient-doctor relationship.
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Citizens' Council on Health Care is a non-profit, independent health care policy organization that supports free-market ideas in health care.
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