U.S. Rep. Tom Price Should Not Be Confirmed As HHS Secretary
Jan. 17, 2017
MEDIA ALERT
U.S. Rep. Tom Price Should Not Be Confirmed As HHS Secretary
Public Citizen, Other Groups to Deliver Petitions Opposing Nominee
U.S. Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.)’s nomination hearing is Wednesday. Public Citizen, MoveOn, Planned Parenthood, Moms Rising, SEIU and others will deliver petitions opposing Price’s nomination to U.S. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) on Wednesday morning.
Public Citizen experts can explain why Price is wrong for the job:
- Price’s ethics are questionable. Extensive stock trading activity in industries that Price oversees as a lawmaker, and unusually good timing and financial benefits of those stock trades, raise red flags about the potential use of insider information. That trading prompted Public Citizen to call for an investigation to determine whether he violated rules relating to conflicts of interest and insider trading.
- More ethics problems loom. Recent news that Price bought shares in a medical device corporation just days before introducing legislation that would have benefited the company raise additional concerns about Price’s ethics.
- Price is hostile to the programs that he would oversee. For instance, he has said he wants to privatize Medicare.
- Price is tied too closely to health care trade associations. Of the $15 million that Price has received in campaign contributions throughout his career, 45 percent of those funds have come from political action committees (PACs). These include cumulative contributions of more than $50,000 each from the American Medical Association, American Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons, American College of Cardiology and several other health care trade associations.
- Price is tied too closely to the medical industry, raising questions about the extent to which he would represent patients. Physician specialists have made more than $3 million in contributions to Price since he won election to Congress in 2004. These include more than $900,000 in contributions from orthopedic surgeons, Price’s personal medical specialty.
Please contact the individuals listed above to speak with an expert.
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