Issa Subpoenas HHS for Details on Botched Website Launch
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The Office of Congressman Darrell Issa(WASHINGTON) — A top Republican lawmaker has slapped Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius with a subpoena for documents that would reveal details about the troubled launch of the Obama administration’s health care exchange website.
California Congressman Darrell Issa, who chairs the House Oversight Committee, issued the writ Thursday following two other attempts by him and Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander to obtain information about HealthCare.gov, including how it was tested and the number of people who have enrolled up to this point.
In a statement, Issa said, “The evidence is mounting that the website did not go through proper testing, including critical security testing, and that the administration ignored repeated warnings from contractors about ongoing problems.”
Alexander lamented that the White House could have made things easier by being forthcoming about details demanded by Congress, adding that the subpoena was the last resort to get Sebelius and other officials to open up their “black box of secrets.”
During testimony before a House panel Wednesday, Sebelius claimed that the website’s problems prevented her from giving the count of enrollees, which she said would be available in mid-November.
As it happens, informal “war room notes” prepared by the administration’s Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight and released by Issa’s committee Thursday night reveal that just six people successfully enrolled on the first day of the launch and only 248 people by the end of the second day.
Yet, the administration maintains this information is unreliable because of the website snafus.
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