Harry Reid

C-SPAN Challenges Congress to Open Health Care Talks to TV Coverage

The head of C-SPAN has implored Congress to open up the last leg of health care reform negotiations to the public, as top Democrats lay plans to hash out the final product among themselves.

C-SPAN CEO Brian Lamb wrote to leaders in the House and Senate Dec. 30 urging them to open “all important negotiations, including any conference committee meetings,” to televised coverage on his network.

“The C-SPAN networks will commit the necessary resources to covering all of the sessions LIVE and in their entirety,” he wrote.

Congressional leaders, however, reportedly are expected to bypass the traditional conference committee process, in which lawmakers from both parties and chambers meet to reconcile differences between the House and Senate versions of a bill. Instead, The Associated Press reports that top Democrats at the House, Senate and White House will figure out the final product in three-way talks before sending it back to both chambers for a final vote.

This format would seem ideal for closed-door meetings, which congressional Democrats have used many times to figure out sensitive provisions in the health care bill — though President Obama pledged during the campaign to open up health care talks to C-SPAN’s cameras.

“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 so that the American people can see what the choices are,” Obama said at a debate against Hillary Clinton in Los Angeles on Jan. 31, 2008.

Asked about the request to Congress, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said he hadn’t seen the letter.

“I know the president is going to begin discussions today on health care to iron out differences between the House and Senate bills,” he said.

Lamb urged Congress in his letter to fling open the doors in the final stretch of the negotiations.

“President Obama, Senate and House leaders, many of your rank-and-file members, and the nation’s editorial pages have all talked about the value of transparent discussions on reforming the nation’s health care system,” he wrote. “Now that the process moves to the critical stage of reconciliation between the chambers, we respectfully request that you allow the public full access, through television, to legislation that will affect the lives of every single American.”

Lamb said his network would use “the latest technology” to be “as unobtrusive as possible” during the talks.

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So much for “Bipartisanship” and “Transparency” Democratic leadership will merge Health Bills in Secret without Republicans. The following videos demonstrate that Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid felt differently back in 2006.

Nancy Pelosi speech at the DNC in D.C. on Election night ‘06

Harry Reid on using Deals in Managers Amendments to Pass Legislation 2/9/06

Obamacare expands IRS authority, may cause greater tax non-compliance

Not only does the Democratic health care bill include tax hikes, as reported by Americans for Tax Reform, it also would expand the role of the Internal Revenue Service. From Kaiser Health News:
Under the proposed health care legislation, they would get another assignment: checking to see whether Americans have health insurance.

The House and Senate bills require most Americans to have health insurance and to prove it on their annual federal tax return. Those who don’t would pay a penalty to the IRS.

[snip]

The agency also would distribute as much as $140 billion a year in new government subsidies to help small employers and as many as 19 million lower-income people buy coverage.

In addition, the IRS would collect hundreds of billions of dollars in new fees on employers, drug companies and device makers, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

Some critics of the health bill question whether the IRS, which has struggled in recent years with budget problems, staffing shortages and outdated computer systems, will be up to the job of enforcing the mandate and efficiently handling the subsidies.

But that’s not the only creepy part. That penalty may effectively encourage tax noncompliance among young people who would find it cheaper to pay a fee than get insurance, as AmSpec’s Phil Klein notes:

The individual mandate won’t affect most Americans, who are already covered either through existing government programs or through their employers. Those most inclined to be uninsured by choice — and thus likely to be most resistant to the mandate — are the so-called “young invincibles” who have low health care costs and can’t justify paying the expensive monthly premiums. In fact, according to Census Bureau, 8 million of the uninsured are between 18 and 24 years old and 10 million are between 25 and 34. Members of this subgroup are also more likely to work on their own, or do cash intensive jobs such as bartending or waiting tables, where it’s easier to float below the radar and avoid filing tax returns. Though it’s difficult to quantify, it would seem that individuals in this position would be less likely to file tax returns after Obamacare is implemented if doing so meant the added burden of presenting proof of health insurance, or facing an additional tax penalty.

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