Politics

Issa: HHS ‘Deliberately Withheld’ Files From Obamacare Subpoena

Patrick Howley Political Reporter
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Republican House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairman Rep. Darrell Issa says that the Department of Health and Human Services did not comply with his subpoena and deliberately withheld Obamacare documents.

“More than six months later, HHS still has not fully complied with the subpoena and has deliberately withheld key docs altogether,” Issa tweeted after a Wednesday Senate confirmation hearing for Sylvia Mathews Burwell, President Obama’s nominee to replace Kathleen Sebelius as HHS director. Issa issued a subpoena in October 2013 for documents related to the disastrous Obamacare launch.

“The department’s substantial delay in production, combined with its improper redactions, has obstructed the committee’s investigation,” Issa wrote in a Wednesday letter to the outgoing Sebelius, which was reviewed by The Daily Caller. Issa said that the 111,000 pages of documents provided to his committee by HHS were filled with redactions. “The department’s failure to comply fully hinders the committee’s constitutional obligation to conduct oversight of the executive branch.”

Burwell is expected to be confirmed by the Senate.

Despite unanswered questions about the Obamacare mess, implementation of the health-care law continues to go forward in epic ways. The Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), a nonprofit organization created by Obamacare, is currently compiling a massive national database of citizen medical information.

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