Health Care

Support C-SPAN's Call for Access in Health Care Debate

Dear Fellow Tea Party Patriots,

Speaker Pelosi and President Obama have told the American people on many occasions that the current administration and this congress are the most ethical and transparent in American history. President Obama promised us at least 8 times health care negotiations and hearings would be televised on CSPAN.

Instead, we have seen:

Roughly 2000 page bills that come to the floor of the House and Senate for a vote with sometimes as little as 48 hours for the public and Congressional members to read them before passage.
Backroom deals come to light only after the vote has been promised and funding or other concessions have been made between Senators. A perfect example of this is Sen. Mary Landrieu's yes vote after the "Louisiana Purchase" of not $100 million but $300 million.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has not made the health care bill public until after the CBO scores it.
Votes taken under the cover of darkness in the middle of the night that will tax us immediately but will have no benefit to the very people they are supposed to help for years to come.

And, we have seen President Obama himself has not been transparent. Instead he has had special, closed door meetings. He met privately, behind closed doors with the Democratic caucus of the House the day of the Health Care Vote and summoned the Democratic caucus of the Senate to the White House the week before the Senate's final vote.

What don't they (Congress and the President) want the American people to see? Why are they breaking their promises to us?

C-SPAN Chairman Brian Lamb has asked Congress to open access to the negotiations to C-SPAN cameras. We agree. It is time to let the light shine on the health care negotiations. Let's hold the President accountable. Let's hold our Representatives in Congress, who have repeatedly said they will be transparent, accountable for their campaign promises.

We the People demand that they open the hearings on the health care bill to public scrutiny and comment by televising the full proceedings on C-SPAN.

Help us support C-SPAN's call for access to the hearings through this Tea Party Patriots petition.

Sign the petition now by following this link: http://teapartypatriots.org/supportcspan
Forward this email or a link to the petition to your entire email list and ask them to sign the petition as well.
Change your Facebook status to: Support C-SPAN's call for access. Sign the petition now: http://teapartypatriots.org/supportcspan.
If you have other social media accounts like Twitter, LinkedIn, Plaxo, and MySpace, change your status there as well.
Call your Congressman's and 2 Senators' local offices and DC offices to tell them to open all health care hearings and negotiations to C-SPAN. Tell them you want no more back room, cover of darkness deals.

Thank you for your help in this effort. Together we can and will hold our elected officials accountable. Together we will work to let the light shine in on this process!

Dear Liberty Activist,

House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) has "strongly endors[ed]" a request by C-SPAN to televise House-Senate health care negotiations, saying House Republicans unanimously support the television network's proposal.

In a letter dated December 30th to Congress, C-SPAN Chairman and CEO Brian P. Lamb asked "that [Congress] opens all important negotiations, including any conference committee meetings, to electronic media coverage."

Democrats have denied the request, and Jim Manley, the spokesman for the Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said "The drafting of this health insurance reform bill has set new standards for transparency."

Manley called the Republicans' endorsement a "shameless… strategy to stop reform at all costs by relying on misinformation and myths." Boehner today said that "skipping a real, open conference committee would shut out the American people and break one of President Obama's signature campaign promises."

In 2008, during the presidential campaign, then-candidate Barack Obama promised to make health care talks transparent: "That's what I will do in bringing all parties together, not negotiating behind closed doors, but bringing all parties together, and broadcasting those negotiations on C-SPAN."

Obama has also pledged that he would make "meetings where laws will be written … more open to the public" including a pledge "not [to] sign any non-emergency bill without giving the American public an opportunity to review and comment on the White House website for five days."

Fueling the controversy, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi "threw a rare rhetorical elbow" at Obama when a reporter asked her feelings on Obama's campaign promise and Congress' action. Pelosi stated, "There are a number of things he was for on the campaign trail," as reported by Politico.

So far, the House and Senate have passed their own versions of the health care bill and now, once again, are meeting behind closed doors to hash out the differences.

Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson stated today that "This bill is so unpopular that this is actually the eighth version presented to the American people, which does not inspire confidence at all."

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.

According to the latest Rasmussen Reports poll, 52 percent of Americans currently oppose the bill. At least 50 percent have opposed the bill since September 14th, with support never rising above 47 percent since then. Currently, only 42 percent support the bill.

"Barack Obama promised to bring all parties to the table," Wilson said, adding, "Instead, it's just one party, the Democrat Party, at the table."

"That's not transparency," Wilson said, concluding, "it's a sham."

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