Wyoming Republican Senator Mike Enzi, the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, is asking President Barack Obama to “reconsider” his decision to allow his top health care adviser to speak at pro-Obama Super PAC fundraising events during the president’s re-election bid this year.
Enzi argues that given the “ongoing role” that Obama administration Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has played in implementing Obamacare, “her simultaneous participation in fundraising activities will create the appearance of a conflict of interest and the potential for various health care entities to perceive inappropriate coercion to participate in such fundraising.”
“The new health care law created sweeping and unprecedented authorities that Secretary Sebelius will utilize to regulate the activities of health insurers, providers, drug and device manufacturers, and employers seeking to offer health insurance to their employees,” Enzi wrote in a Wednesday letter to Obama. “These regulatory determinations will have significant financial effects on all of these stakeholders, up to and including whether some can continue to operate in their current form.”
Obama opened the door to accepting support from Super PACs earlier this month after having attacked them before. According to The New York Times, Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and their wives won’t appear at events that Priorities USA Action – the main Democratic, pro-Obama Super PAC – will raise funds at. Instead, the Times reported, Obama has decided to dispatch cabinet officials, including Sebelius, to speak at Priorities USA Action fundraisers.
In his Wednesday letter, Enzi said it’s “particularly inappropriate” for Obama to direct Sebelius to participate in such fundraising events while she has so much power over the ongoing implementation of Obamacare. “In light of this potential conflict of interest, I request that you reconsider your administration’s decision to allow Secretary Sebelius to attend such fundraising events,” Enzi wrote.
If Obama continues to allow Sebelius to speak at these Super PAC events, Enzi asked Obama to “formally direct the Secretary to recuse herself from participating in regulatory decisions implementing the new health care law that may affect any health care stakeholders who participate in these fundraising activities.”
White House spokesman Eric Schultz balks at Enzi’s concerns, and says there are guidelines in place to prevent any inappropriate political coercion.
“Just like in previous Administrations of both parties, Administration officials and cabinet members in their private time can and do engage in political activity,” Schultz said in an email. “There are various rules governing these activities and our Administration officials follow them.”
Spokespeople for HHS and Priorities USA Action did not respond to The Daily Caller’s requests for comment on this issue.
*This article has been updated.
