Washington, D.C. – The Oversight Subcommittee today heard from Mr. Todd Park, a former top aide to President Obama who was the White House point-man for the development and rollout of the HealthCare.gov website. Mr. Park testified that he did in fact brief the president on concerns about the website before it was launched.
Over the course of the past year, the Science Committee has repeatedly asked for Mr. Park to testify before the Committee about the security of HealthCare.gov. On September 17, 2014, the Subcommittee on Oversight approved the issuance of a subpoena, compelling Mr. Park’s appearance today.
Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas): “Americans have seen first-hand the misrepresentations that surround Obamacare. First, there was the President’s broken promise that ‘If you like your health care plan, you can keep it.’ Then, in a video that surfaced last week, MIT professor Jonathan Gruber, a principal architect of Obamacare, admitted how the Administration sold this to the American people. Finally, as of today, the White House still has failed to provide this Committee with all the documents that are subject to the subpoena. The ones we do have paint a far different picture than that of the Office of Science and Technology Policy."
Despite Mr. Park denying that he had detailed knowledge of security and testing prior to the rollout of the website on October 1, 2013, the Committee has obtained many emails where Mr. Park demonstrates an in-depth knowledge of these issues. A recently released interim Majority Staff Report lays out a timeline of events and emails raising further questions about what the White House knew. But as of today, the White House has failed to provide all of the emails and documents covered under the subpoena.
Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Paul Broun (R-Ga.): “Mr. Park, I find your and the White House’s lack of transparency intolerable and an obstruction to this Committee’s efforts to conduct oversight. It took a subpoena to get you here. It took another subpoena to compel your documents from the White House, but even with that, we have yet to receive all of your documents in compliance with our subpoena. That begs the question – what are you hiding, Mr. Park?"
Members today questioned Mr. Park about what he knew and what he reported to other senior White House officials about security concerns. They also highlighted the fact that the Obamacare website was recently hacked this summer, and according to a recent Government Accountability Office report, still has weaknesses “both in the processes used for managing information security and privacy as well as the technical implementation of IT security controls."
For more information about today’s hearing, including witness testimony and the hearing webcast, visit the Committee website.
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