Key House Republican presses tech companies on Obamacare glitches

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Republican chairman of a key congressional oversight committee has asked Google, Microsoft and three other U.S. companies to provide details on their possible involvement in a "tech surge" aimed at fixing a website implementing President Barack Obama's signature healthcare law.

Darrell Issa, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, made the request in a letter to Google, Microsoft, Verizon Enterprise Solutions, Oracle and Expedia, committee spokeswoman Caitlin Carroll said.

Issa, a relentless critic of the Obama administration, wants information on contacts the companies may have had with the White House about the Healthcare.gov website by Friday. Carroll called it the first step of a "rolling inquiry" that could include other companies.

The five named companies were selected because of press reports about their potential involvement in fixing the website, Carroll said.

I think this does one single thing. Each board member from these companies...will insist on a private meeting with the CEO, and will likely insist on them distancing themselves from any future ‘help’ or contracts associated with this. Once they go into the Committee meeting and swear to tell the truth...they intend to walk out clean and not come near any future dealings with ObamaCare version 2 software.

What most of the journalists are missing here....it’s an outdated software platform (2003/2004 era stuff). It wasn’t meant to last more than a year or two....then drag the government back into the room for the next version (another contract, more loot, more company profit).

Well....because of last-minute additions and demands by the White Staff (we will never know who exactly)...this platform is never going to deliver unless you really put another hundred days of development and 30 days of testing into it. Figure an extra $150 million to climb to the top of the operation pit. But...it’s only makes an outdated software program operational. You still have to ask for more funds and start in 2014 building the next platform (figure spring 2015 for release).

These top five technology companies will be distancing themselves from the mess. They don’t want the bad reputation as a failure piece tied to their Fortune 500 name. They also see no profit from this. And they aren’t likely to compete for the contract to build platform version 2.

That’s the only thing that Issa’s committee gets out of this. It’s not much, but considering that you’ve got a failed software platform that’s six months minimum from working....what else will you do?

I will add this....this idiot who demanded that the platform needed to be able to guide people to register to vote as well....needs to be identified and fired. That wasn’t necessary and was simply another thousand lines of coding that served no national interest.

Read a complete resume of President Obama...from high school on.

What exactly has he achieved in real life? Has he run any business....even a peanut farm would be helpful? What great pieces of legislation did he write as a state representative in Illinois? As the head of the Harvard Law newspaper...what articles did he write? What commentary has he ever written for publication...other than a book over his entire life?

I would admit that I’d take just about anyone over Senator McCain becoming President....but after a while...you realize that this is a six-cylinder turbo-powered car...burning on one-cylinder, and it’s been in the right lane since day one....waiting for the economy to recover, and in 2016...will still be waiting for the economy to recover.

If he had hired a dozen great competent people to be around him....he might have done better. I hate to admit this...but Joe Biden is the only four-star character in the circle of fifteen-odd handlers. Without any wit or wisdom...he’s just standing there and grinning mostly...repeating phrases....delivering speeches which no longer work well....and counting on investigative journalists to forget their skill or past achievements.

This is the best that this administration can do, and we need to be patient with the glory of ineptness. They give Nobels out for stuff like this...I hear.

I’ve been trying to keep on Obummercare’s Obummerware and the “glitches” and “kinks”. The only name I’ve read out of the companies that were sent a letter was Google. Read that the website was using Google Chrome as the web browser and various other Google apps (PII collection).

I haven’t read anything about what is being used on the back end, though I did read that some open source software was used and that they removed the original copyright info (a no-no).

Curious that Apple wasn’t sent a letter, but perhaps it was because they don’t have the back-end OS (as far as I know), such as a server OS, database program, etc.

I am starting to think of Issa as a joke.

I believe I agree. In fact, I think Issa even thinks he’s a joker. I mean, seriously, is this how we want our gov officials to take on a serious issue? And yes...I have a sense of humor. And yes, I like cats. But really...this is what he thinks is the most effective use of his time on O care? Sigh.

http://issa.house.gov/district-blog/2013/10/8-cats-who-called-1-800-obamacare-but-still-couldnt-get-healthcare-3/

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