John Thune

Posted: October 22nd 2009

From the Argus Leader:

Closed-door meetings to craft health care legislation go against one of President Obama's key campaign promises, Sen. John Thune said Wednesday.

The president made it clear that health care reform would be done in the open, but that hasn't been the case thus far, the South Dakota Republican said in a conference call with reporters.

Obama had vowed that "C-SPAN is going to cover it, it will be on television, everybody will be able to see what's happening," Thune said.

"Well, nothing could be further from the truth," Thune said. "This is all being done behind closed doors. Senator Reid somewhere in the Capitol is in an office with a handful of members of the White House staff and a couple of other Democrat chairmen and they're writing the bill, so the whole idea that this is transparent and open really is just a bunch of hot air."

Sen. Harry Reid is the Senate Majority leader.

This summer, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs responded to criticism on this topic by saying, "I don't think the president intimated that every decision putting together a health care bill would be on public TV."

The idea of putting the health care debate on TV, though, was central to Obama's campaign promises of change and openness, so much so that it became part of his stump speech as he traveled the nation in 2007 and 2008, McClatchy Newspapers reported.

He'd describe how televised deliberations would take place around a big table, with seats filled by doctors, nurses, insurers and other interested parties.
On Wednesday, Thune also said the debate over health care reform should not be rushed.

"When it comes to the floor we're going to insist on a fair process that allows for that type of deliberative and thoughtful process that incorporates the voices and the views of the American people," Thune said.

Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., also discussed health care during a conference call with Dr. Nancy Babbitt, a Rapid City physician who was at the White House earlier this month with a group of doctors who support reform efforts.

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