Rep. Fred Upton
Rep. Fred Upton, chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, is threatening to press healthcare industry officials on the deals they made with the Obama administration during the health insurance reform process, expanding the probe beyond just the White House. But TPM's Brian Beutler thinks that could backfire on the GOP.
As part of his quest to publicize all of the dealmaking that characterized the health care reform process, Upton says he'll consider pressing industry leaders for details on their private negotiations with the Obama administration.
"It's something that's not off the table, in terms of what we may do," Upton said at a recent press conference with House leadership....
Changing course would give him easier access to the information he seeks (or claims to seek), but might put him behind the eight ball politically. That's because many of the stakeholders in question -- drug manufacturers, hospitals, and other interested parties -- either support the law, or entered a sort of non-aggression pact with the administration.
And if Upton drags those leaders -- many of whom lean Republican -- up to the Hill for a public hearing about their participation in the process, he may hear more about how they think it's a good law, than about how shady the whole process was.
As an example, here's a direct quote on the issue from Rick Pollack, executive vice president of the American Hospital Association: "The passage of the health care reform bill lays a solid foundation for America to build upon with the expansion of coverage for 32 million people and important insurance reforms so that more people will get the care they need when they need it.... Since no legislation is completely perfect, the AHA is focused on working with the administration and Congress on the multitude of regulations related to implementation including Accountable Care Organizations, Value Based Purchasing, State Insurance Exchanges and IT."
PhRMA's Billy Tauzin says there's no there, there: "As I told Fred I don't think there's anything new to be learned. I'd be happy to join him in a discussion if he wanted. ... We're very close friends, and I offered to provide any assistance to the committee. I don't think there's a whole lot more to learn."
The deals were pretty public and subject to plenty of traditional media and blog reports, as well as official disclosure from the White House so the chances of Upton finding anything embarrassing to the administration—his chief aim—isn't likely. It also might sour, a bit, relations between the GOP and some of their staunch supporters in the industry. And, ironically, the likeliest deal yet to be exposed would put the GOP in a public policy bind.
Ironically, the one deal observers widely believe the groups cut with the White House and congressional principals, but was never officially disclosed, was the one that doomed the public option. If Upton's investigation revealed that deal it would confirm progressives' suspicions about the White House's public bad faith, but verify that President Obama had foreclosed on a policy that Republicans hate.
Would the desire to embarrass Obama become so great that Republicans ended up having to support a public option? Yeah, not likely, but exposing that wouldn't do Republicans much good. It's generally viewed as an established fact from the NYT reporting at the time, whether or not there's been official confirmation. In other words, old news.