The president and CEO of C-SPAN sent a letter last week to Congressional leadership of both parties asking them to open health care negotiations to be televised.
The letter from Brian Lamb is addressed to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, as well as House Minority Leader John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
“As your respective chambers work to reconcile the differences between the House and Senate health care bills, C-SPAN requests that you open all important negotiations, including any conference committee meetings, to electronic media coverage,” Lamb writes.
The health care bills passed by the House and Senate are expected to be merged in informal meetings, rather than an official conference committee, in order to save time.
“We request that you allow the public full access, through television, to legislation that will affect the lives of every single American,” Lamb writes. “We hope you will give serious consideration to this request. We are most willing to employ the latest digital technology to make the cameras, lights and microphones as unobtrusive as possible.”
Much of the health care debate — including committee hearings and votes — has been televised on C-SPAN. But many negotiations between leaders, including those that resulted in Reid’s manager’s amendment — have been held behind closed doors.
Late update: In his briefing this afternoon, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said he hasn’t seen the letter. He also defended the level of transparency seen so far in the health care debate.
Late late update: House Democrats and Boehner both reacted to the request this afternoon.
