The Foster Affair

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http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/13/opinion/13TUE2.html?th

 

July 13, 2004

The Foster Affair

 

If subverting informed decision-making were illegal,

Thomas Scully, the Bush administration's former top

Medicare official, would be in trouble. The Health and

Human Services Department reported last week that

before the vote on the huge Medicare reform bill last

November, Mr. Scully threatened to fire the agency's

chief actuary, Richard Foster, if he released

estimates to Congress showing that the bill could cost

as much as 50 percent more than the White House had

let on.

 

But the report said that Mr. Scully had broken no law.

Moreover, because he is no longer with Medicare — he

now lobbies for drug companies — he faces no

disciplinary action.

 

The Bush administration would no doubt love to have

the issue end there. But Congress should not allow

that. Ordinary citizens and their representatives have

a right to be informed about public policy. The White

House cannot continue to get away with treating

Congress as some pesky organization with which it

needn't share information.

 

In absolving Mr. Scully of breaking any law, the

Health and Human Services Department relied on a legal

analysis by the Justice Department that strongly

suggested the estimates were protected by executive

privilege. But federal employees also have a legal

right to communicate with lawmakers, and in this case

Congress had explicitly asked Mr. Foster for his cost

estimates.

 

Regardless of the legal technicalities, it is a

terrible policy to deprive legislators of information

they need to make informed choices. Mr. Foster has

said that he shared his estimates not only with Mr.

Scully, but also with Doug Badger, President Bush's

health policy adviser. Both Mr. Scully and Mr. Badger

declined an invitation to appear before the House Ways

and Means Committee in April. The committee should

call both men again, under subpoena if necessary, to

answer questions about what looks like a conspiracy to

keep Congress in the dark.

 

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