MAY 10, 2013
Back in March, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius went, hat in hand, to health industry officials, asking them to make large
financial donations to help with the effort to implement President Obama’s
landmark healthcare law, two people familiar with the outreach said.
Her unusual fundraising push comes after Congress repeatedly
rejected the Obama administration’s requests for additional funds to set up the
Affordable Care Act, leaving HHS to implement the president’s signature
legislative accomplishment on what officials have described as a shoestring
budget.
Over the past three months, Sebelius has made multiple phone
calls to health industry executives, community organizations and church
groups and asked that they contribute whatever they can to nonprofit groups that
are working to enroll uninsured Americans and increase awareness of the law,
according to an HHS official and an industry person familiar with the
secretary’s activities. Both spoke on
the condition of anonymity to talk openly about private discussions.
An HHS spokesperson said Sebelius was within the bounds of
her authority in asking for help.
[OOOOOOK]
But Republicans charged that Sebelius’s outreach was
improper because it pressured private companies and other groups to support the
Affordable Care Act.
Federal regulations do not allow department officials to
fundraise in their professional capacity.
They do, however, allow Cabinet members to solicit donations as private
citizens “if you do not solicit funds from a subordinate or from someone who has
or seeks business with the Department, and you do not use your official
title,” according to Justice Department regulations.
MAY 11, 2013
HHS declined to identify the targeted donors but said none
of the companies are regulated by department agencies. [AND OF COURSE, WE SHOULD TAKE THEIR WORD
FOR THIS? NOTHING HERE….. MOVE ALONG]
MAY 14, 2013
Senator Lamar Alexander [ranking Republican on the Senate
committee that oversees health policy] has said:
I’d
like for her to stop. One issue is if she’s raising money from the
people she regulates. [STRONG-ARMING THEM?
NAWWWWWW] But I’m more concerned
about her using private funding and private organizations to do what Congress
has refused to do. I and other members
of congress are going to ask GAO to look into the extent she’s coordinating
with Enroll America or other organizations.
MAY 30, 2013
Senior Republican senators … asked the Health and Human
Services’ inspector general to investigate Secretary Kathleen Sebelius’
fundraising drive to promote the new health care law — a practice ethics specialists have said is anything from a legal
stretch to a shakedown for cash.
HHS officials have confirmed that since March, Mrs. Sebelius
directly solicited donations from tax preparation giant H&R Block and the
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a nonprofit that supports anti-obesity and
other health outreach campaigns. H&R
Block has yet to respond to the appeal, but the foundation has donated a total
of $14 million to Enroll America, although it hasn’t said how much of that was
in response to Mrs. Sebelius’ appeals.
This HHS impropriety all seems small potatoes compared with
the IRS and Benghazi scandals – and they
ARE scandals of the first order…. and the Justice
Department’s violation of our First Amendment rights by violating freedom
of the press and seizing communication records of a reporter under the guise
that he ‘may be aiding and abetting national security leaks’. Holder lied to Congress on this one. He signed off on the paperwork and even
shopped for a judge to sign a trumped up subpoena to go after Fox’s James
Rosen. THIS one is the press’s ox being
gored and so far, they are not taking it lightly. The HHS problem is getting cover from the
other three scandals. Let’s hope it
doesn’t get swept completely under the rug. It's unethical and illegal for
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