Carter Demands Sunlight On Health Care Negotiations

Press Release

The media and the public have a right to hear the ongoing negotiations over the final healthcare reform proposal underway between President Obama and Democrat Members of Congress, says Congressman John Carter (R-TX), and he is urging fellow House Members to sign a discharge petition to demand a vote to open the secret meetings to the public.

Carter Wednesday co-sponsored legislation by Congressman Vern Buchanan (R-FL) that would require public access to the ongoing health care negotiations. President Obama pledged that all such conference negotiations would be publicly broadcast on CSPAN if he were elected, yet continues to block access to all but Democrat leaders of the House and Senate.

"Actions speak louder than words," says Carter, "It is obvious the President, Speaker Pelosi, and Harry Reid know the public rejects their plans to takeover the healthcare system and doesn't want anyone to have the details before the vote," says Carter. "This kind of contempt for the American public is precisely why we have to fight with everything we have now, and overthrow the current leadership of this body in November."

A discharge petition is a rarely-used legislative tool that overrides the ruling of the Speaker of the House by legally requiring a floor vote on a bill the Speaker has blocked from consideration. If the discharge petition gathers 218 signatures, it is brought to the full House for a vote. The Buchanan discharge petition, H.Res.847, currently has 151 signatures.

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