C-SPAN says it has yet to get a response to a request last
week that Congress open up its healthcare negotiations to the public.
That request came in a Dec. 30 letter from C-SPAN founder Brian Lamb to House and Senate leaders on both sides of the
aisle. The letter was posted on C-SPAN's Web site Tuesday.
C-SPAN is volunteering to provide a pool feed of any
negotiations or conferences on the bill, live and as unobtrusively as possible.
Lamb said that C-SPAN has covered and archived literally
hundreds of hours on the issue. That includes debate, committee hearings, think
tank conferences and more, according to spokesman Peter Kiley. "We want to
be able to show these [next] critical stages moving forward," he said.
"Now that the process moves to...reconciliation between
the chambers," wrote Lamb, "we respectfully request that you allow
the public full access, through television, to legislation that will affect the
lives of every single American."
