Congressman Joe Barton will not play around now that the GOP controls the House.
This is the same congressman that rightly called BP’s payment of 20 billion dollars to a fund without the benefit of due process a “skakedown” by President Obama
Barton was right then, and John Beohner, Eric Canter, and Mike Pence were wrong for apologizing on behalf of Barton for telling the truth. See Pussies-R-Us
Now Barton will have the power to conduct hearings about ObamaCare. I hope GOP leadership doesn’t wimp out like they did before.
The Star-Telegram reports that if Rep. Joe Barton becomes chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee next year, the Arlington Republican vows to make life miserable for Democratic defenders of the healthcare overhaul law.
The longtime North Texas congressman, who won re-election by a comfortable margin Tuesday night. will drag Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Medicare chief Donald Berwick to Capitol Hill for regular grilling.
Democrats, he says, have essentially shielded the two key figures from answering tough questions about the new law.
That's just the beginning. Barton has a list of seven problems he intends to spotlight, including how he thinks that the Obama administration covered up cost estimates of the law before it was enacted, silenced insurers from warning customers about what they thought would be rate increases and spent money on brochures touting improvements to the Medicare Advantage program even though funding is being reduced.
While repealing the new law remains the first order of business for angry Republicans, most acknowledge that it's a long shot, considering President Barack Obama's veto power. Still, they'll possess some powerful tools to challenge the law if they win a majority in the House of Representatives -- as is widely forecast -- and take over leadership of the committees.
Key Republicans are threatening to withhold funding for the overhaul's initiatives and to pursue hearings and oversight investigations in order to challenge administration officials' regulations and communications with the public. Committee chairmen have subpoena power.
"Oversight of the existing law will build a case for full repeal," Barton said. "We have to aggressively work to repeal the entire bill. As part of the process, we'll have very aggressive oversight."
If he's the chairman, Barton said, he'll investigate why Sebelius "issued a gag order to insurers when they began to talk about the possibility of Obamacare forcing rate increases."
High on his agenda is exploring why Medicare's chief actuary, Richard Foster, "has concluded that the president's healthcare law will not rein in rising costs and federal spending," and why Foster "was unable to project costs of the president's bill until after it was passed by the House."
Barton also accuses Sebelius of using government money to pay for propaganda. Rep. Darrell Issa of California, the top Republican on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee and another possible chairman-in-waiting, joined Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich., in asking the Government Accountability Office to investigate television ads in which actor Andy Griffith touts the benefits of the new law for seniors. "More good things are coming, like free checkups, lower prescription costs and better ways to protect us and Medicare from fraud," he says with his best down-home Mayberry smile.
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