3,497 Pages of Documents Include HHS Correspondence and Internal Emails Regarding Obamacare Waivers
WASHINGTON - Judicial Watch, the public interest
organization that investigates and prosecutes government corruption,
announced today that it recently obtained 3,497 pages of documents from
the Obama Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) regarding the
Affordable Health Care Act, also known as Obamacare. Judicial Watch
obtained the records as a result of a Freedom of Information Act FOIA)
lawsuit filed on December 30, 2010 (Judicial Watch v. U. S. Department of Health and Human Services (No. 10-2328)).
The records include internal HHS email correspondence and strategic
documents, as well as email communications with unions and companies
applying for waivers. The records also include preliminary drafts and
multiple versions of the health care plan along with comments from the
Office of Management and Budget, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
Services and other agencies with concerns and suggestions for revising
the plan.
The majority of the communications related to the granting of waivers
by the Secretary of HHS exempting companies and unions from the minimum
annual cap on the amount payable to an individual in benefits. Such
waivers enable companies and unions to keep their existing plans in
place until January 1, 2014.
As of July 2011, 1,472 one-year waivers
and 106 three-year waivers were granted, covering some 3.4 million
enrollees, more than half of which belong to unions. Yet, according to
the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, union members account for only
about 12% of the total workforce.
Judicial Watch previously obtained documents from HHS regarding closed-door health care meetings between union officials and Vice President Joe Biden, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and then-Obamacare Czar Nancy-Ann Min DeParle. The documents include a list of all of the labor union leaders
who attended a meeting with President Obama, along with brief
biographical information on each participant. The list includes: Richard
Trumka, President of the AFL-CIO; Andy Stern, President of the Service Employees International Union; and Jim Hoffa,
President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, among other
Big Labor leaders. The documents suggest that the key provisions of the
Obamacare law were written solely to address the concerns of union
interests.
Speaking at a rally for organized labor over Labor Day Weekend attended by Barack Obama,
Hoffa criticized the Tea Party and urged attendees to get out the vote
for Democrats: "President Obama, this is your army…Everybody here has
got to vote. If we go back and we keep the eye on the prize, let's take
these sons of bitches out and give America back to America where we
belong."
"This first batch of documents has the gory bureaucratic details of
the Obamacare mess. The Obama administration has tried to keep its
government takeover of healthcare veiled in secrecy, especially the
details of these waivers. Waiving the law for 3.4 million Americans is
unfair and an affront to the rule of law," said Judicial Watch President
Tom Fitton. "It seems corrupt when
political supporters in Big Labor are getting a disproportionate number
of waivers from Obamacare. Unions helped write the Obamacare law, and
then get exempted from it! Now Big Labor is paying back these waiver
favors with campaign support for Barack Obama.
Judicial Watch is committed to bringing as much transparency as
possible to Obamacare, especially this ongoing abuse of the 'waiver'
process."
Showing posts with label Judicial Watch. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Judicial Watch. Show all posts
Friday, September 9, 2011
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Judicial Watch Obtains Never-Before-Released FBI Records Regarding Late Senator Ted Kennedy
Documents Detail Connections to Suspected Communist Operatives
WASHINGTON, Sept. 8 - Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that it has obtained 23 new pages of documents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) file of late Senator Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy, who died in August 2009. Judicial Watch obtained the records pursuant to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed on June 9, 2010.
Among the new documents is a memo dated March 28, 1963, that details the FBI's concern over an effort by Edward and Robert Kennedy to pressure the State Department to allow Katalin Karady, a Hungarian emigre living in Brazil - described as "consistently refused an immigrant visa because of the voluminous subversive and derogatory data on file concerning her" - to enter the United States:
Legat, Rio de Janeiro, has furnished data from State Department files, Sao Paulo, Brazil indicating that in August, 1961, Edward and Robert Kennedy, now U.S. Senator and Attorney General, respectively, were interested in [Katalin Karady's] obtaining an immigrant visa to U.S. Subject is former Hungarian actress of unsavory reputation who has now obtained the immigrant visa...
...Subject, Hungarian-born, aged 48, is former well-known actress in Hungary. Numerous allegations have been received in the past indicating subject to have been a communist collaborator, lesbian, and prostitute. She has reportedly admitted being the fiancee of the head of Hungarian intelligence (Nazi) during World War II.
(FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover seems to have handwritten the note "I am speechless!" at the bottom of this memo.)
Another document, dated December 28, 1961, details Senator Kennedy's attempts to meet with "Leftists" in Central and South America:
In July, 1961, Edward Kennedy made a familiarization and orientation tour of Central and South American countries. During this tour, the Mexico City Legal Attache reported that Kennedy had expressed an interest in meeting with "Leftists" to talk with them and determine why they think as they do. Kennedy met with a number of individuals known to have communist sympathies. ...Subsequently, a State Department official in Lima, Peru, confidentially advised that Kennedy had made a similar request in Peru, and this official described Kennedy as "pompous and a spoiled brat."
In August, 1961, a confidential source advised that Edward Kennedy had recently dined with Dr. Lauchlin Bernard Currie, former White House Aide to President Roosevelt. Currie's name had been mentioned in Washington investigations of Soviet spy rings.
Judicial Watch continues to fight for the release of an additional 48 pages of documents being withheld by the FBI. United States District Judge Richard Roberts will hold a scheduling conference October 6, 2010.
"These documents help complete the public record of one of the most controversial politicians in U.S. history," said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. "It is a shame the 'transparent' Obama administration continues to slow-walk the release of these documents."
WASHINGTON, Sept. 8 - Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that it has obtained 23 new pages of documents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) file of late Senator Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy, who died in August 2009. Judicial Watch obtained the records pursuant to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed on June 9, 2010.
Among the new documents is a memo dated March 28, 1963, that details the FBI's concern over an effort by Edward and Robert Kennedy to pressure the State Department to allow Katalin Karady, a Hungarian emigre living in Brazil - described as "consistently refused an immigrant visa because of the voluminous subversive and derogatory data on file concerning her" - to enter the United States:
Legat, Rio de Janeiro, has furnished data from State Department files, Sao Paulo, Brazil indicating that in August, 1961, Edward and Robert Kennedy, now U.S. Senator and Attorney General, respectively, were interested in [Katalin Karady's] obtaining an immigrant visa to U.S. Subject is former Hungarian actress of unsavory reputation who has now obtained the immigrant visa...
...Subject, Hungarian-born, aged 48, is former well-known actress in Hungary. Numerous allegations have been received in the past indicating subject to have been a communist collaborator, lesbian, and prostitute. She has reportedly admitted being the fiancee of the head of Hungarian intelligence (Nazi) during World War II.
(FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover seems to have handwritten the note "I am speechless!" at the bottom of this memo.)
Another document, dated December 28, 1961, details Senator Kennedy's attempts to meet with "Leftists" in Central and South America:
In July, 1961, Edward Kennedy made a familiarization and orientation tour of Central and South American countries. During this tour, the Mexico City Legal Attache reported that Kennedy had expressed an interest in meeting with "Leftists" to talk with them and determine why they think as they do. Kennedy met with a number of individuals known to have communist sympathies. ...Subsequently, a State Department official in Lima, Peru, confidentially advised that Kennedy had made a similar request in Peru, and this official described Kennedy as "pompous and a spoiled brat."
In August, 1961, a confidential source advised that Edward Kennedy had recently dined with Dr. Lauchlin Bernard Currie, former White House Aide to President Roosevelt. Currie's name had been mentioned in Washington investigations of Soviet spy rings.
Judicial Watch continues to fight for the release of an additional 48 pages of documents being withheld by the FBI. United States District Judge Richard Roberts will hold a scheduling conference October 6, 2010.
"These documents help complete the public record of one of the most controversial politicians in U.S. history," said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. "It is a shame the 'transparent' Obama administration continues to slow-walk the release of these documents."
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