Sessions On Dems' Vote To Reject Public Access To Healthcare Negotiations
Press Release
U.S. Congressman Pete Sessions today condemned House Democrats' vote to prevent public access to health care negotiations. Using one of the few procedural rights guaranteed to the Minority on the House floor, House Republicans forced a vote to consider legislation to ensure that any meeting regarding national healthcare be conducted in public. The Democrat Majority defeated this common-sense measure by a vote of 239 -- 175.
"The American people are rightly outraged at Democrats' backroom deals to force government-run health care through Congress -- with no regard for the will of the American people," Sessions said. "Unfortunately for the American people, the Majority is more interested in pursing a radical left-wing ideology than in providing transparency and representative government in the People's House."
Introduced by Congressman Vern Buchanan (R-FL), this transparency legislation (H.Res. 847) would put an end to closed-door meetings and backroom deals on healthcare, ensuring that House Republicans, the press, and most importantly, the American people can know exactly what the Majority's government-run healthcare bill means for the future of health care. Sessions is an original cosponsor of Congressman Buchanan's transparency bill.
"The American people have spoken: they do not want a government takeover of their healthcare," stated Sessions. "House Republicans will stand with the American people in demanding transparency and accountability from a Democrat Majority that has failed its promise of being the most honest, open and ethical Congress in history. The American people deserve far better."
This vote builds on House Republican efforts to provide public access to Congressional Democrats' closed-door health care talks, which to date have resulted in backroom deals and special treatment for their top contributors: unions. Congressman Sessions has also joined his Minority colleagues in calling for C-SPAN access to health care negotiations and for at least 72-hours in advance of a vote for Members and the American public to read a bill.
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