The House Ways and Means Committee has subpoenaed Health and Human Services Secretary
Kathleen Sebelius, demanding that she reveal details of how the agency is promoting the health reform law, according to the committee.
The
election may have iced efforts to repeal the law on the whole, but
House Republicans are indicating that they’re full speed ahead on
intense oversight of how the Obama administration is enacting the
legislation.
The subpoena demands that Sebelius turn over documents
about how taxpayer dollars are being used to promote the law through
public relations, advertising and message testing. The committee is
asking for all documents covering the period from January 2008 to today.
It comes from committee Chairman
Dave Camp (R-Mich.) and oversight subcommittee Chairman
Charles Boustany (R-La.), who is facing a run-off election next month.
Camp and Boustany sent a
letter
to Sebelius on Oct. 24, threatening a subpoena if documents were not
handed over by Oct. 31. They sent an initial request to Sebelius for the
material in June.
“The lack of response leads me to believe that this administration is
either unwilling to disclose why they are using taxpayer dollars to
market their unpopular law or are unable to keep track of how those
taxpayer dollars are being spent,” Camp said in a statement Wednesday.
“Either way, the American people deserve to know where their hard-earned
money is going … after months of being unresponsive, I am left with no
choice but to compel their cooperation.”
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