Obama Administration To Brief House Democrats On Obamacare

Political Realities ^ | 10/23/13 | LD Jackson

[LD Jackson]

In recent days, I have written extensively about the Obama administration and the attitude they hold towards their political opponents. Clearly, they like to do as they please, much more than they like to explain their actions when things go wrong. At the risk of repeating myself, this attitude has permeated the entire administration, from the top down. The Obamacare disaster is just the latest example of how they refuse to face their critics with honest answers. Once again, they are ducking for cover and refusing to be honest with the American people.

For several days, Congressional Republicans have asked for information about Healthcare.gov. In short, they would like to know such an important website cost so much money to build, somewhere between $400 and just over $500 million, depending on who you ask, and why it was not tested more thoroughly before it was launched. They would also like to know how the Obamacare website could be allowed to go forward when it was obvious from the small amount of testing that was done that it was going to fail. HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius finally agreed to testify before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on October 30. This is after she refused to testify before the House Budget Committee, in spite of receiving repeated requests from Paul Ryan. It is now known that a senior HHS official will brief Congress early Wednesday morning, at 8:50 AM. There is a catch, however. Only House Democrats are invited to the briefing. Hat tip to Independent Sentinel.

Washington Post - Mike Hash, who directs the Office of Health reform at the Department of Health and Human Services, will brief House Democrats Wednesday about implementation of the Affordable Care Act.

The closed-door session, which will start at 8:50 a.m., marks the first time the administration will have briefed members of Congress on the online enrollment system since its troubled rollout on Oct. 1.

Needless to say, Speaker John Boehner is none too happy about not being invited. As much as I believe we need a new Speaker of the House of Representatives, he has a point.

Far too much information about Obamacare’s rollout is being concealed from the public," Boehner spokesman Brendan Buck said. "All members – as well as the American people – deserve answers for this debacle. That’s why we have asked the administration to provide the same briefing to House Republicans. This snub is all the more offensive after Secretary Sebelius declined to testify at a House hearing this week. It’s time for the Obama administration to honor its promises of transparency and face some accountability.

Since when does any administration get to brief only the members of their own party about a government program that affects every American? The last time I checked, we have two major political parties in this country. Even though the President likes to point out that he won two elections, that doesn't mean the Democrats represent 100% of the American people. Tens of millions of people voted for the Republican ticket in 2012 and in the American system of government, mob rule does not exist. That's why we have a representative republic, instead of a democracy, to prevent the majority from running over the minority with their numbers. The Obama administration seems to have forgotten that.

Obamacare is clearly headed towards a cliff. One would think the warnings that have been given, coupled with the failures that have already been apparent, would be enough to slow down the train wreck that is coming. Thus far, that has not been the case. Obamacare is the Obama administration's pride and joy and they refuse to let reality get in the way of their own political egos.

This is a time when the truth could have benefited the Obama administration. Telling the truth about the Obamacare website and acknowledging it was not ready for prime time would have given them the political excuse they needed to delay the rollout and fix the problems that were discovered during the small amount of testing that was performed. The aforementioned political egos got in the way and the Obama administration flatly refused to delay the rollout of Obamacare. Because of that refusal to accept reality and work to fix those problems, before they are loosed on the general public, the American people are about to be caught in a crossfire they can not escape. This crossfire is brought to you by your friendly neighborhood White House, at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

[Venturer]

This is easy to see through.

Sebelius is going before them on Oct. 30th. This briefing of Democrats is to prompt them on how to protect her during that performance.

And it will be a performance, not any truth will come out.

[pepsionice]

If true, and I’d like to hear it straight from Nancy Pelosi that only her crew was invited....then the whole thing is politicized and will never be accepted...even as a failure.

The lost funding? You’d need a special prosecutor at this point to figure out who approved what, and who was attending to the project control status. They need to be brought into a grand jury and explain what they did and why.

Overall, if this explanation briefing goes forward...it’s now a lost cause and if I were a Democratic Representative...I’d refuse to attend and start glaring at the leadership of the party....fools for accepting this massive failure onto the party itself. You can’t blame Bush...you can’t blame the Tea Party....and you can’t blame journalists from Fox News or Rush himself.

Finally, I will offer this observation. If half the nation wakes up in spring of 2014, and the insurance companies send out the next rate increase and it’s fifty to one hundred percent more than current rates....and you watch your personal taxes rise...then it’s the end of the game for the November 2014 election. Management run by chaos and incompetent project management...have only a limited amount of appeal to the public. Then, all is lost.

[Steven Tyler]

I conclude one reason for the exclusive closed door meeting.
The Democrats walked the plank for 0bama.
Now they cracked and separated from Rat Leadership.

The Progressives and Rats need to be stroked and re-assured to prevent them from going public with their criticism of 0bamacare

[Steven Tyler]

Boenher needs to grow a pair and crash the meeting

[Recompennation]

Oglitch’s people peoples, no pwoblem they’ll lissen.

[Gaffer]

If I were Boehner, I’d exercise my purview as Speaker of the House to close all panel, body or individual meeting within the confines of the Congressional building unless members of both sides are invited. Let them all go meeting in Obama’s bedroom if they want to have a secret meeting where nothing gets accomplished.

[redfreedom]

” - - - and if I were a Democratic Representative...I’d refuse to attend and start glaring at the leadership of the party....fools for accepting this massive failure onto the party itself.”

Glaring at the leadership of the party?

There’s nothing democratic about the democrat party, rather it’s more like a totalitarian regime. They always vote in lockstep on major issues. There has to be a free thinker somewhere in the party, but that person knows full well his career has ended if he bucks the power structure. That’s why they all voted for it when not a one of them read it.

This party is un-American and pure evil.

[WorksinKOP]

Play by their rules: Lock the doors!

“Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and the Democrats adjourned the House and turned off the light and killed the microphones, but Republicans are still on the floor talking gas prices”

http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-501743_162-4314586.html

[paint_your_wagon]

Socialized medicine is their holy grail. Any criticism will be directed towards lower level people.

Maybe the meeting will be to see just who in the Rat party will be the first one to stop cheering and clapping. That will be the first one to be shot.

[Junk Silver]

I would guess that the purpose of the Democrat-only briefing will be to go over talking-points for the fast-approaching move to single-payer.

Of course the Establishment Republicans are stupid enough to fall for this rope-a-dope strategy. They’ll all be patting themselves on the back for “delaying” Obamacare in a few months and will be completely blindsided when the Democrats and their media stooges implement fully socialized medicine through Executive Decree and a hastily thrown together last minute agreement to avoid default.

Hey, maybe the House Republicans will then vote to repeal Universal Health-Care 40 times or so, that’s always helpful.

[Puzzleman]

The Wikipedia entry on “constitutional crisis” says,

“A constitutional crisis is a situation that the legal system’s constitution or other basic principles of operation appear unable to resolve; it often results in a breakdown in the orderly operation of government. Often, generally speaking, a constitutional crisis is a situation in which separate factions within a government disagree about the extent to which each of these factions hold sovereignty. Most commonly, constitutional crises involve some degree of conflict between different branches of government (e.g., executive, legislature, and/or judiciary), or between different levels of government in a federal system (e.g., state and federal governments)…

A constitutional crisis can lead to government paralysis, collapse, or civil war.”

[Wiser now]

Ah, they are going to be given their new talking points and scape goat.

[Lou L]

Since when does any administration get to brief only the members of their own party about a government program that affects every American?

Mr. Speaker, stop your pouting, and use the powers that you have as the senior leader, responsible for government oversight. Make some small deals with some sympathetic Dems, and get them to support you. Remind them that they'll be in your position one day, with a Republican in the White House, and they won't like being ignored. Subpoena individuals who should be able to provide answers, and negotiate for answers. If you get some smug, mid-level bureaucrat who pleads the Fifth, slap them with contempt. Make their life hell.

[The Wizard]

Republicans should demand to be included

[Libloather]

The closed-door session

More secret meetings.