WTF? House GOP Forbidden to Say "Government-Run Healthcare"?
BUMPED: GOP Franking Office Responds

So says Rep. John Carter (R-TX):

“It came to me from the Franking Commission and I have the email from the Franking Commission here if you’d like to see it,” Carter said. “We held a telephone town-hall… When you hold telephone town-halls you have a recorded message that introduces the town-hall and the subject matter you’re going to be talking about. You have to now submit that language to the Franking Commission.

“What we proposed as language was as follows, ‘House Democrats unveiled a government-run health care plan,’” Carter said. “Our response from Franking was, ‘You cannot use that language. You must use, ‘The House majority unveiled a public option health care plan,’ which is Pelosi-speak or ‘just last week the House majority unveiled a health care plan which I believe will cost taxpayers…’”

Scant information, but not inherently unbelievable. I'm looking now to see if there's more about this.

Here's a FoxNews report on it, with more information. Apparently, the Republicans want to send out a chart that says "government-run healthcare"?

I left messages with the Republican office of the Franking Commission and with the Committee on House Administration (which oversees the Franking Commission). Maybe they'll get back to me.

UPDATE (12:55pm): Okay, somebody at the GOP office for the Committee on House Administration emailed me a one word answer to my question "Is it true that House Republican John Carter was instructed not to use the phrase "government- run health care plan" in a mass communication?"

The reply: "Yes."

Actually, I added the period. Somehow I feel like I'm not getting enough bang for my tax-payer buck. DETAILS, PLEASE!

Here is the GOP CHA-Franking page. Contact form is at the top right. Maybe one of you will have more luck than me.

And here is the DEM CHA-Franking contact page. Bug them too.

UPDATE (1:55pm): David in San Diego writes:

Started with Dan Lungren (R-CA03) office since he is the ranking Republican on the Franking Commission (there are 3 Democrats and 3 Republicans). Got sent to the commission staffers who, at least the ones I talked to, are friendly and professional.

In a nutshell: anything that is mailed out using tax $$ requires these six people to approve of the contents of he mailing. And approval requires a simple majority. And a 3-3 tie is not a majority.

The objection that there was to the phrase "Government-run Healthcare" is that the current bill, such as it is, is not 100% government run. We still have the private option (that discussion is probably for a different posting).

So for your edification the Commission members are (I'll save what comments I know about some of them for later, if at all):

Democrats:

Susan Davis, Chair (CA-53)
Brad Sherman (CA-27)
Donna Edwards (MD-04)

Republicans:
Dan Lundgren, Ranking (CA-03)
Kevin McCarthy (CA-22)
Dr. Tom Price (GA-06)

It's nearly 5:00 pm in Washington. Call 'em if your pissed.

Thanks, David!

BUMPED: GOP Franking Office Responds&bodytext=So says Rep. John Carter (R-TX): “It came to me from the Franking Commission and I have the email from the Franking Commission here if you’d like to see it,” Carter said. “We held a telephone town-hall… When you hold...&topic=world_news"> posted by Gabriel Malor at 03:54 PM

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