Heard on the Hill: Walsh Swears This Is a Story
Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.) of alligator moat fame is OUTRAGED! And he would like to know why others aren’t outraged, too.
On Wednesday Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-Kan.), the rest of the Kansas House delegation and other Representatives held a press conference demanding Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius explain why some groups have been exempt from certain provisions in the health care law.
The lawmakers — led by Huelskamp — signed on to a letter in early June asking Sebelius to provide more information on the waiver approval process. She hasn’t personally responded, but HHS did dump some information on the waiver process Friday. Still, the lawmakers are displeased.
They were hoping that HHS would share more information and that the secretary would respond to them directly. More importantly, they want the press to be outraged.
“This is an outrage!” Walsh yelled to the crowd of reporters covering the presser. “And I don’t know why your profession isn’t outraged. If this were any other president or any other administration, you would be investigating this tooth and nail every single day.”
“THIS IS A STORY,” the lawmaker shouted. “Why is this not a story?”
Sorry, sir. What’s the story?
“The fact that the secretary hasn’t responded again. That’s an outrage. But the biggest outrage is the fact that this administration passed this legislation, granted so many waivers, and … your profession won’t cover it. You need to cover it. This is an outrage to this country, and it needs to be looked at.”
“Please note,” an HOH spy says, “most of the collected reporters have been writing stories about this for months.”
The Sebelius lack-o-response was represented by an otherwise blank poster labeled “Response from Secretary Sebelius.”
Rep. Steve Womack (R-Ark.) said it was the same board they used to blast President Barack Obama’s Libya plan. “We are saving resources by recycling some of these presentations,” he said. Former Vice President Al Gore would be pleased to hear that.