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Press Release

For Immediate Release
Contact: Sean C. Bonyun
October 23, 2009
(202) 225-3761

Upton Urges Greater Sunshine in Health Care Debate
Rep. joins bipartisan call for health care negotiations to be conducted in the open – In tandem with effort to require all bills be publicly available at least 72 hours before vote

WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Fred Upton (R-St. Joseph) has joined the bipartisan effort demanding that all meetings finalizing a sweeping health care reform bill be conducted in the open, in full view of the American public. Upton signed onto H.Res. 847 to put the House on record against secret, closed-door deals on health care reform legislation. The bipartisan H.Res. 847 was introduced by Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL) and is supported by over 100 Members of Congress including former Democratic presidential candidate Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH). The measure also partners with Upton’s effort to force a vote on legislation mandating that all legislation before the House of Representatives be made public for at least 72 hours before receiving a vote on the House floor.

“Every single American stands to be impacted by the sweeping health care bill that is being put together by Democrat leaders and the White House behind closed doors,” said Upton. “The ongoing backroom deals smack of hypocrisy in this supposed new era of transparency. Any bill of this magnitude, especially one with a trillion dollar price tag that will impact one sixth of our economy, should be done in the light of day under the watchful eye of the American people. With the stakes this high, the public, as well as their elected representatives, have a right to know how the health package is being crafted and exactly what is being inserted into the bill.”

The resolution notes that lawmakers negotiating the final details of the health care reform bill have met privately and expresses the sense of the House that any meetings held to determine the content of national health care legislation be conducted in public to provide full transparency.

The text of the resolution follows below:

“Whereas, House rules allow conference committees to hold closed-door meetings that exclude the public and press;
“Whereas, full transparency is critical to a healthy democracy, such openness has not always been the case among conferees who have met privately behind closed doors;
“Whereas, in previous years, conferees have met in small rooms or private meetings and circumvented full transparency;
“Whereas, the New York Times has reported on a disturbing pattern of House leadership skirting open access by allowing small groups of conference committee members to meet privately;
“Whereas, ABC News reported earlier this year that the $1 Trillion Stimulus bill was passed after “closed-door negotiations”;
“Whereas, health care reform is one of the largest public policy reforms taken up by Congress in generations;
“Whereas, health care reform will impact the lives of all Americans;
“Whereas, health care constitutes 1/6 of our nation’s economy;
“Whereas, the Congress is elected by the people to serve the people: Now, therefore, be it
“Resolved, that it is the sense of the House of Representatives that any conference committee or meetings held to determine the content of sweeping national health care legislation be held in full public view, not behind closed doors.”

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