By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS Staff Journalist A leading lawmaker in the U.S. House is investigating and is planning to make public all of the legislative deals made by the White House and Congressional leadership with special interest groups in the effort to win support for ObamaCare. According to Politico, California Rep. Darrell Issa, the ranking Republican on the House Oversight Committee, has already sent letters to five special interest gropus who are known to have cut deals with lawmakers during the health care reform process. “Contrary to the president’s oft-stated goal of transparency, the rank-and-file members of the Democratic Caucus and the entire Republican Conference have not had the opportunity to participate in the negotiations between the Democratic leadership, the White House and health care stakeholders,” wrote Issa in a letter to the AMA (American Medical Association), AFSCME (American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees), the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the AHA (American Hospital Association) and PhRMA. “This is troubling to members of Congress who value transparency in government.” Issa asked the groups to detail the health care meetings they had with White House and Democratic congressional leadership officials, what benefits they won from the negotiations and what they were required to provide in return. “PhRMA, a Washington-based drug industry lobbying group, cut a $90 billion deal with the White House and Senate Democrats,” Politico reports. “The AHA and the hospital industry cut a $155 billion deal with Democrats to help pay for reform. The union AFSCME successfully lobbied the White House to soften the tax on high-end insurance plans. The Chamber had multiple meetings with White House and congressional staffers, but ultimately opposed the legislation.” The AMA has thus far been uncooperative with Rep. Issa’s request for answers. Instead of providing the information requested, AMA president James Rohack wrote: “Such advocacy has always been in the constitutionally protected tradition of petitioning government and elected representatives for redress and has not resulted in any ‘pre-arranged deal or agreement’ or other inappropriate quid pro quo.” Rep. Issa’s office called this response “totally unacceptable” and said if their dealings with the White House and lawmakers were appropriate, they should have no problem providing the information requested. “One way or the other, we’re going to get answers to these questions,” said Issa spokesman Kurt Bardella. Rep. Issa is sending a request for more complete information to the AMA and will explore deposing or subpoenaing the AMA or any other group that does not provide sufficient answers. © All Rights Reserved, Living His Life Abundantly®/Women of Grace®  http://www.womenofgrace.com