Make the Final Health Care Talks Public
by Rep. John Boehner (R-OH)Republicans are continuing to insist on behalf of the American people that any legislative negotiations pertaining to health care reform be made public. Today, Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL) is filing a discharge petition which, if signed by 218 Representatives, would force an up-or-down vote on his bipartisan resolution (H. Res. 847) requiring that health care talks be public and open to the media, as President Obama promised they would be.
We’re taking this step because something as important as the Democrats’ health care bill, with its Medicare cuts and tax hikes, should not be slapped together behind closed doors. Secret deliberations are a breeding ground for mischief, including sweetheart deals that end up not being discovered until it’s too late (see: Sen. Ben Nelson’s “Cornhusker Kickback.”)
Of course, the American people should be able to see how every bill is coming together, but it’s even more important to adhere to this common-sense standard when we’re talking about transforming one-sixth of our economy and implementing drastic changes to the way in which Americans live.
I believe President Obama knows that, which is why he pledged on no fewer than eight occasions to hold public health care negotiations and broadcast them on C-SPAN. He said it was important for the American people “to know what’s going on.” Last week, C-SPAN called on congressional leaders to make good on President Obama’s pledge; countless editorial boards coast-to-coast issued similar pleas.
Still, negotiations continue behind closed doors among a handful of Washington Democrats and their liberal special interest allies, including the leaders of organized labor, who were brought into the White House earlier this week to talk health care.
Republicans believe the American people deserve a seat at the table, and this discharge petition to force a vote on Rep. Buchanan’s transparency resolution is our best shot to make it happen. I will sign it and I am urging all my colleagues, both Democrats and Republicans, to do the same.
Rep. Buchanan’s resolution is part of a transparency initiative Republicans first introduced in November to make Congress more open and accountable to the people it serves. We are also calling for votes on the following reforms:
- Read the bill. All bills should be posted online for a minimum of 72 hours before being brought to a vote on the House floor.
- Show the votes. Members’ committee votes should be posted online within 48 hours so the American people can see how their representatives voted.
- Ban “phantom amendments.” Committees should be required to post the text of adopted bills online within 24 hours of adoption to end the practice of “phantom amendments” being added to bills secretly after they pass at the committee level.
- Bring sunlight to the Rules Committee. Cameras should be allowed in the secretive House Rules Committee, the panel that decides which bills and amendments come to a vote.
Republicans will continue to insist on transparency so that every piece of legislation, no matter how big or small, is subject to the maximum amount of public scrutiny. Learn more by visitinghttp://gopelader.gov/readthebill.
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62 Comments
The final talks!?… welcome to the party pal.
Libs CAN'T do that. It would expose their perfidy.
http://noliberalspin.blogtownhall.com/
The Anti Liberal Zone
Congressman Boehner,
I sure hate to tell you, but WE the People have lost confidence in you all in Washington. You all have worked hard, to earn that loss of confidence. There is nothing short of a total replacement of all current incumbents that will pacify US now.
You say the right things, posture for the issues, and sure have a nice John Edwards haircut, but that no longer gets it. It you're not part of the solution, you are part of the problem. You all need to go.
Sorry, time to go……………….
Congressman Boehner, good luck with getting cameras into the deliberations. You'd have a better chance of getting a camel through the eye of a needle.
Hw do you expect this adminsitration to be transparent about anything? They would have to struggle to keep the lies off of camera.
What would happen if you, the Republican party, took your own camera crew? To hell with the Democrats, just do it!
There is a solution:
Send Hannah Giles and James O'Keefe with a Handycam. Hannah could even wear her Chinchilla coat………
Sorry government party member your words ring hollow for your party brothers know the games you played and thus discount you. . I don’t see a fire in any republicans heart, just words of politics. Our country sits on the verge of bankruptcy and possibly a civil war and you play your games?.
You are a SENATOR Grab a camera crew and make them deny you. Put fear in their heart, because clearly they have put fear in yours. Stand up and defend the constitution and stop your politics.
I believe President Obama knows that, which is why he pledged on no fewer than eight occasions to hold public health care negotiations and broadcast them on C-SPAN. He said it was important for the American people “to know what’s going on.”
"Words, just words"
I don't believe Cong. Boehner deserves our ire. He has never taken even a dime in earmarks. That alone says something to me. While I may not agree with all of his votes, I believe he's made them in good faith to this constituents and to his country. The same cannot be said for my Lemming…I mean Congresswoman, Donna Edwards (5th Dist, MD), or the #2 Lemming…I mean House Majority Leader, Hoyer (4th, MD). in fact, what the heck is wrong with the entire MD delegation?!?!?!?!?
I think that Congressman Boehner would find less cynicism in this thread if he were to demand that barry-oh and his congress either do what they said or drop the charade of lies. The good Congressman has civil discourse confused with speaking the truth.
It's OK to call them out as liars, because they are proven based on words compared to deeds…
your link is spelled wrong at the bottom of the release…. gopelader
Congressman Boenher, go knock on the locked doors where the deliberations are being held, take some reporters with you, feel free to be loud. Make a scene that will get on TV and lets see you fight for us.!!!
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All due respect Congressman, but after watching Nancy Pelosi hand you guys your asses on a platter with the Stupak amendment (voting yes gave the "pro-life" Dems all the cover they needed to vote for Pelosi's bill, you guys should have voted "present" and let Stupak and the Dems twist in the breeze), I don't think any of you have the passion, or a big enough set of balls to really do anything to stop this madness. Op-ed pieces on this site are nice, but unless they are backed up with real action, what's the point?
[...] See the original post here: » Make the Final Health Care Talks Public – Big Government [...]
Dear Mr. Boehner. Where is the fire in your belly!! The other people on this thread are right, grab a camcorder and pup-tent and camp in front of the Dems closed doors. The people commenting here are not right-wing radicals, but honestly scared normal hardworking taxpaying American citizens. And yes, a lot of us, yours truly included, were, by virtue of being hardworking, family loving American citizens, were not active participants in our political process, other than showing up to vote. To quote someone above, WE are also late to the party. But we are awake now, and active. How did Scott Brown raise over $1M on Monday? From us. Directly from us. But you need to take a message to the GOP talking heads – we are not giving our money to the GOP anymore. We are vetting candidates across the country, and throwing our support directly at them. Tell the GOP that the GOP does not matter, we will chose our own conserative candidates and we will help get them elected. NY23 was a mess, but we are learning, and learning very fast – why else would MA even be in play whatsoever?
THEY ARE SO DESPARATE TO PASS HEALTHCRAP SOCIALISM THEY EVEN EMBRACE RACISM TO FURTHER THAT AGENDA
Dear Congress-critter Boner, un-leader of the Gone Out Party:
I am all in favor of y'all having public hearings. May I suggest that you hold them in a tottering structure in Haiti? Who needs health care more than those folks right now? As an added bonus, take Obonehead with you.
And I recommend that you take along entertainment. Any 400 to 500 Hellywood buttsteak celebutards and any other 400-500 idiot rockstars will suffice.
Make sure to put their stage next to the only remaining support in the tottering structure. Be sure to position all politicians securely under the middle of the shelter and out from the populace, as usual.
Oh, and take a LOT of media crews and newsies with you.
I suggest, for your enjoyment (and ours) that your entertainers play so loud that it shakes the joint.
We'll wait to hear from you.
Very, and I mean REALLY very, sincerely,
Consrvativ_KDH
P.S. Sow the beans, reap the flatus. C_KDH
[...] here: » Make the Final Health Care Talks Public – Big Government AFL-CIO NOW BLOG | Health Care Reform Tax Hits More Chevys Than …AFL-CIO NOW BLOG | TODAY: [...]
Um, he's a congressman, and a Republican, and from all I heard, anyone who doesn't have a D after their name or bring major political power to the table (e.g., union leaders) is being locked out of these proceedings. Hence the call for open debate…
Excuse me John, but,
Republicans believe the American people deserve a seat at the table, and this discharge petition to force a vote on Rep. Buchanan’s transparency resolution is our best shot to make it happen. I will sign it and I am urging all my colleagues, both Democrats and Republicans, to do the same. John Boehner R-Ohio
Deserve a seat at the table???????? What????? Get it straight! It's OUR damn table! We gave YOU a seat, not the other way around. Until all of you pols figure this out; we will continue to go nowhere and this elitist attitude towards us spells oblivion to all of you. Mark my words. We are DONE.
A seat? Indeed.
[...] from: » Make the Final Health Care Talks Public – Big Government January 13th, 2010 | Tags: -care-reform, a-discharge-petition, are-continuing, buchanan, [...]
Pete, we've got it. You don't want to hurt your candidate, do you?
sorry it doesn't matter.. his district sent him to washington to protect the constitution.. I have not seen one represenative or senator force the issue.. end of story. This is like hugging terrorist not confronting them.
[...] link: » Make the Final Health Care Talks Public – Big Government a-discharge-petition, are-continuing, buchanan, care-reform, discharge-petition, health, [...]
[...] post: » Make the Final Health Care Talks Public – Big Government January 13th, 2010 | Tags: a-discharge-petition, are-continuing, buchanan, care-reform, [...]
At this point Congressman, what would be the point of televising them? The jig is up. We know what is in the bill and we have called, emailed, sent letters, attended townhalls, jumped up and down, sent smoke signals….and STILL Congress refuses to listen.
Perhaps they will hear us loud and clear in November.
GOOD LUCK, YOU'LL NEED IT!
[...] more here: » Make the Final Health Care Talks Public – Big Government AFL-CIO NOW BLOG | Health Care Reform Tax Hits More Chevys Than …Hot Air » Blog Archive » [...]
Let's use Medicare, which nearly every American understands. Just create "Medicare Part E" where the "E" represents "everybody." Just let any citizen in the US buy into Medicare.
It would be so easy. No need to reinvent the wheel with this so-called "public option" that's a whole new program from the ground up. Medicare already exists. It works. Some people will like it, others won't — just like the Post Office versus FedEx analogy the President is so comfortable with.
[...] original here: » Make the Final Health Care Talks Public – Big Government Tags: a-discharge-petition, are-continuing, buchanan, care-reform, discharge-petition, [...]
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That's a ridiculous position. Not every incumbent is bad. That's an intellectually lazy thing to say. This very position proves he is on our side, not to mention guys like Tom Coburn who have been fighting this bill so strongly, or Jim Inhofe who has stood publicly against all the global warming-based legislation.
Stop presuming you speak for WE the people. You don't.
Instead of final talks I would like to vote on this monstrosity of a bill. These "representatives" believe it's their vote that matters most and take matters into their own hands in spite of what the people think. Personally I believe such behavior is reprehensible and treasonous. Any real leader would understand when a decision was too big to make by themselves and would seek to involve their constituents rather than sufficing to affirm their positions and decisions via their political peers. When such sweeping legislation requires 2000+ pages to merely outline the changes then it's time to get the people involved, not through polls but by holding votes. Anything short of that is to declare that the people are not intelligent enough to make such decisions for themselves.
[...] the original post here: » Make the Final Health Care Talks Public – Big Government test Filed under Health | Tags: are-continuing, buchanan, care-costs, finance-committee, Health, [...]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVsr-_-v2sI
This is how I feel about Washington!
[...] here: » Make the Final Health Care Talks Public – Big Government Categories: Health, Object Tags: buchanan, fate, Finance, Health, insist-on-behalf, [...]
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Mmm, I also want to know why they gave up on the option of reading the bill. Each and every measure to defeat this monstrosity must be used. Where are our representatives
As with most politicians Lorben, speaking words and speaking words that are true are two different things.
Best idea I have heard yet, Cowboy Logic.
The republicans are one with the democrats, Stan, though they would have you believe otherwise.
Transparency in government? That is a novel concept. Did you come up with this concept on your own?
How about getting an adult male gorilla into a size 1 tutu? Or getting a Siberian Tiger to use a litter box? Or to ask an Alaskan Brown mother to let you pet her cub? Or to try to place a display of the 10 Commandments in San Francisco City Hall. Or….
Well said, Cowboy Logic.
Honest Leadership. Open Government.
Bull. They take us for stupid. We know better.
This has been photoshopped – it really says Dishonest Leadership. Closed Door Government.
Rep. Boehner is so disingenuous. "Can't we please all just get along and let freedom ring"?
He wants that legislation dead in conference. If he wanted to be involved crafting the legislation he had his opportunity when the House was writing the bill. Now he just gets to watch.
Live by parliamentary procedures, die by parliamentary procedures.
Apologies, I stand corrected!
[...] See original here: » Make the Final Health Care Talks Public – Big Government [...]
I certainly wouldn't presume that I speak for YOU…………..
Yep!
It's a nice thought John, but it ain't happenin with this bunch of lieing crooks! The don't dare let the American people see the crap they are about to cram down our throats (or is it up our…?). Anyway, you catch my drift. This crowd is bound and determined to self-destruct as they attempt to control our lives from cradle to grave and take our last dime doing it! If 2010 doesn't throw them ALL out, maybe it's time to use other methods.
Oh – and you and your cronies are big proponents of open government? Sort of like people had to file lawsuits just to try to find out who met with Dick Cheney on the energy policy overhaul – which the Bush administration (successfully) fought tooth and nail to stop that from becoming public – not just the contents of the discussion, but who was even at the meeting. Nice try hypocrite!
[...] filing by Rep. Buchanan of a discharge petition to force a floor vote on his bipartisan piece of legislation – H.R. 847 or the “Sunshine [...]
I really like your blog and i respect your work. I’ll be a frequent visitor.
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