WASHINGTON, DC - Despite House Energy and Commerce Committee leaders granting the Obama administration one final chance to provide basic information regarding the Transitional Reinsurance Program, the administration has once again declined to cooperate and share information. Over the last several months, the committee has been investigating the administration’s illegal diversion of billions of taxpayer dollars to insurance companies to prop up Obamacare. The committee issued a subpoena today in an effort to break the administration’s stonewall and obtain important information.
The text of the health law is clear. And in their May 2016 letter to HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell and CMS Acting Administrator Andy Slavitt, full committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI), Health Subcommittee Chairman Joseph Pitts (R-PA), and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Tim Murphy (R-PA) wrote, “The Administration’s decision to divert payments intended for the U.S. Treasury to insurance companies contradicts past rules issued by the Administration and the clear intent of Congress."
The unlawful payments were discussed at a Feb. 24, 2016, hearing, when Members referenced a memo from the non-partisan Congressional Research Service, which concluded that the administration’s actions conflicted with the text of the law. Most recently, the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee highlighted the administration’s illegal diversion at its April 15, 2016 hearing. Acting Administrator Slavitt testified at the hearing that the committee should expect documents pertaining to its request, “I think quite soon." Since that hearing, only one document has been shared with the committee - a six-page document summarizing the final rule from CMS, with one short paragraph on the reinsurance program.
Despite Acting Administrator Slavitt’s on-the-record commitments to produce the requested documents, on June 10, 2016, HHS sent a letter to the committee acknowledging that responsive documents exist, but it will not produce them. In refusing to produce the documents, the department cited the need to protect its “confidentiality interests," and claimed that providing documents to Congress about these final rules would “have a chilling effect on future deliberations." To date, HHS has not asserted any legal privileges-let alone a valid one-to justify withholding these final documents from Congress.
“Congress should not have to issue subpoenas to gain basic facts, but sadly that’s become the case with the Obama administration," said Chairman Upton. “Billions of dollars are being illegally diverted, and taxpayers are on the short end. We continue to seek basic information, including the legal justification for these unlawful payments. To withhold such answers is to deny the American people a basic accounting of their tax dollars, and the transparency this administration pledged. Our pursuit of the truth continues."
This document stonewall is just one of many from the administration regarding the president’s troubled health care law. The committee has also subpoenaed documents related to its investigations into how the administration is funding the Cost-Sharing Reduction program and the Basic Health Program.
Read the subpoena HERE.
