January 7, 2010 5:08 PM
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GOP Senators Ask Dems for Transparent Health Care Debate
(AP)
"In the coming weeks, we ask for increased transparency in the process of merging the House-passed bill and the Senate-passed bill," the letter said. "Closed door negotiations and unprecedented special provisions in exchange for votes do not meet the expectations of the American people."
Democrats have come under scrutiny in recent days for deciding to fast-track the final stages of developing their health care plan, bypassing a formal process known as the "conference committee" in favor of closed-door negotiations between House and Senate Democrats. Among the decisions Democrats will have to make is whether to keep provisions that favor certain states, like Nebraska, which were added to win the votes of moderates like Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) but have angered others.
"Previous rhetoric about transparency has thus far amounted to broken promises to the American people," the letter said, quoting a promise President Obama made on the 2008 campaign trail to broadcast all health care negotiations on C-SPAN.
The CEO of the nonprofit cable network in fact offered to make all the necessary resources available to broadcast the remaining health care deliberations.
"We urge you to take him up on this offer," Republicans wrote in their letter to Reid.
The White House has insisted the overall health care debate has been sufficiently transparent and that the remaining stages must be fast-tracked in order to finish the legislation expediently.
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Stephanie Condon Stephanie Condon is a political reporter for CBSNews.com.
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