By Molly K. Hooper
The Hill
12/16/09
A House Republican congressman is pushing the Obama administration to reveal the specifics of deals it struck with various groups on healthcare reform.
Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Texas) wants the House to require the White House to hand over documents related to compromises reached earlier this year with the pharmaceutical industry, doctors and other stakeholders.
Burgess was expected to introduce a formal resolution of inquiry on Wednesday night that will likely be voted on early next year. House rules dictate that resolutions of inquiry must get a vote in committee or on the floor.
Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), who headed the House oversight panel last year, supports the effort to collect information from the White House.
“If there are such documents, [Burgess] should get them, but I don’t know if t here are such documents. I think some of these things that he wants are not written down and different people have different ideas of what was agreed,” Waxman told The Hill on Wednesday, before Burgess submitted the resolution.
There has been confusion on the deals, especially the $80 billion pact President Barack Obama reached with the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA).
The article continues at The Hill.
