ObamaCare Transparency Needed for an Accountable Government

When the Founding Fathers formed our government, they put in place a series of checks and balances to ensure that no one branch could become too powerful and overwhelm the will of the people. The Legislative Branch, of which I am a newly sworn-in Member, is entrusted with the responsibility to conduct oversight on the Executive Branch. To provide effective oversight it is imperative we receive accurate and timely information from the Administration. This empowers the American people to make informed decisions.

Unfortunately, that has not been the case over the past five years, with Congress running into obstacles and being turned away from receiving necessary information. This is not what the architects of the Constitution envisioned, and it’s not what the American people deserve. That’s why this week, I supported passage of the Exchange Information Disclosure Act. This legislation expands transparency requirements for the Administration to force reporting on attempts to remedy failures in consumer interactions under ObamaCare, such as the many failures of the federal healthcare exchange website.

It’s clear this law is too deeply flawed to ever be fixed, and I am committed to fighting for its full repeal. That’s why as my first legislative act as a U.S. Congressman, I cosponsored a conservative repeal-and-replace alternative. In the meantime, it’s important that Congress is able to have access to this information.

Families and small businesses in South Alabama are hurting as a result of ObamaCare. Cases of dropped coverage, skyrocketing premiums, and ill-fitting plans are widespread. Using government mandates to ham-handedly force the market to act, instead of freeing up markets to allow for greater competition, have slowed job growth and added more to the debt at a time when we just can’t afford it.

I wish the President would work with us to begin crafting a repeal and common sense replacement of this law. Until then, it’s important that we have all the necessary information at our disposal to accurately review and discuss its merits. That’s why the Exchange Information Disclosure Act is important. I will continue fighting to make this government more transparent and accountable to the people it represents – because that is what our Founding Fathers would expect.