Armed Polite Society
Main Forums => Politics => Topic started by: TechMan on January 05, 2010, 03:22:30 PM
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http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/01/05/c-span-challenges-congress-open-health-care-talks-tv-coverage/
Updated January 05, 2010
C-SPAN Challenges Congress to Open Health Care Talks to TV Coverage
FOXNews.com
The head of C-SPAN has implored Congress to open up the last leg of health care reform negotiations to the public, as top Democrats lay plans to hash out the final product among themselves.
C-SPAN CEO Brian Lamb wrote to leaders in the House and Senate Dec. 30 urging them to open "all important negotiations, including any conference committee meetings," to televised coverage on his network.
"The C-SPAN networks will commit the necessary resources to covering all of the sessions LIVE and in their entirety," he wrote.
Congressional leaders, however, reportedly are expected to bypass the traditional conference committee process, in which lawmakers from both parties and chambers meet to reconcile differences between the House and Senate versions of a bill. Instead, The Associated Press reports that top Democrats at the House, Senate and White House will figure out the final product in three-way talks before sending it back to both chambers for a final vote.
This format would seem ideal for closed-door meetings, which congressional Democrats have used many times to figure out sensitive provisions in the health care bill -- though President Obama pledged during the campaign to open up health care talks to C-SPAN's cameras.
"That's what I will do in bringing all parties together, not negotiating behind closed doors, but bringing all parties together, and broadcasting those negotiations on C-SPAN so that the American people can see what the choices are," Obama said at a debate against Hillary Clinton in Los Angeles on Jan. 31, 2008.
Asked about the request to Congress, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said he hadn't seen the letter.
"I know the president is going to begin discussions today on health care to iron out differences between the House and Senate bills," he said.
Lamb urged Congress in his letter to fling open the doors in the final stretch of the negotiations.
"President Obama, Senate and House leaders, many of your rank-and-file members, and the nation's editorial pages have all talked about the value of transparent discussions on reforming the nation's health care system," he wrote. "Now that the process moves to the critical stage of reconciliation between the chambers, we respectfully request that you allow the public full access, through television, to legislation that will affect the lives of every single American."
Lamb said his network would use "the latest technology" to be "as unobtrusive as possible" during the talks.
It is really a sad state of affairs when the head of C-SPAN has to plead with Congress to broadcast them. I thought that CongresscrittersTM liked to be on TV. What about transparency? ;/
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We'll get all the transparency we deserve once the hardcopy of the Congressional Record of the proceedings is published. A year after the bill is passed.
Silly minion.
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IMO, if they televise it, all the real dealing will be moved out to areas that are not on camera. Reality TV is not real.
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I don't recall seeing TV coverage of the Supreme Soviet, either.
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Preaching to the choir but it is damned frustrating to have no transparency on something this important, controlled by such untrustworthy and dis-likable folks, and will have such reaching implications to my healthcare costs and quality, tax rates, and possibly even my employment.
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I don't recall seeing TV coverage of the Supreme Soviet, either.
You beat me to it. I was going to make one of my usual intolerant remarks about Lenin.
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Candidate Obama repeatedly - repeatedly - promised that the health care debate would be open and televised on C-SPAN.
President Obama is having none of that.
Mr. President - YOU LIED. (Joe Wilson was more right than he knew!)
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I don't recall seeing TV coverage of the Supreme Soviet, either.
I do. But then I was a child in 1980's Russia.
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HankB, Obama promised all sorts of things. He promised no lobbyists in the White House; he now has several on his staff. He promised an ethical administration; Geithner was the first step in that failed promise. He promised to shut down Gitmo and bring the troops home; ain't gonna happen. He promised a balanced budget; whoops! He promised the most bipartisan administration in history; not happening there, either. He promised to be a uniter; gigglesnort. He promised not to raise taxes on the middle class; hold on to your wallets after the health care bill passes.
The only promises I can think of that he's kept were to try to ruin the coal industry and to reach out to our enemies.
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He promised to shut down Gitmo and bring the troops home; ain't gonna happen.
I was talking with a co-op at my office the other day and he stated that he voted for Obama purely for the fact that he promised to bring the troops home, which of course he hasn't. The co-op's demeanor was one of a hurt puppy, hopefully he has learned a lesson that a politician will say anything to get elected and then conveniently forget campaign promises that won't work when reality sets in.
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Congress needs to be locked out until they learn to act like what they are, our hired hands. All of this is a disgusting charade and an insult to everything we supposedly stand for.
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Monkeyleg, he also promised that the stimulus would keep unemployment from going over 8%.
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Candidate Obama repeatedly - repeatedly - promised that the health care debate would be open and televised on C-SPAN.
President Obama is having none of that.
Mr. President - YOU LIED. (Joe Wilson was more right than he knew!)
You didn't actually believe any of Obama's campaign promises, did you?
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What makes this whole thing so terrible tasteless, and really irks me is that the American Revolution was started for far less than what these clowns are attempting to pull.
We haven't been in a "representative republic" for a great many years now.
I pray that another revolution won't happen in my lifetime, but this is really looking bad.
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What amazes me is when someone on the left tells me they are amazed Obama didn't get rid of the Patriot Act, or bring the troops home.... ah, ignorance is bliss.