Vice Chairman Cramer Questions Former Obamacare Website Official

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today Congressman Kevin Cramer, Vice Chairman of the Science, Space and Technology Oversight Subcommittee, questioned a former top aide to President Obama who was the White House point-man for the development and rollout of the HealthCare.gov website. In his testimony during the hearing, Todd Park revealed he did in fact brief President Obama on concerns about the website before its launch.

In the wake of serious concerns about the security of personal data, the Science Committee has repeatedly asked for Mr. Park to testify. On September 17, the Subcommittee on Oversight approved a subpoena compelling Mr. Park’s appearance today. Although he denied having 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. Still, as of today, the White House has failed to provide all emails and documents covered under the subpoena.

In his questioning of Mr. Park, Cramer referenced an email on page 6 of this PDF, in which a federal employee, Michelle Snyder, said she was threatened with a demotion or forced retirement if she did not carry out the website rollout “no matter what”. Ms. Snyder also referenced “risks” of the rollout, and ended the email by requesting it be deleted after reading.

“What were these risks that Ms. Snyder referenced in her email, which she asked you to delete?” asked Cramer. Mr. Park indicated the risks were related to hardware, but refused to be any more specific.

In January, Congressman Cramer voted for successful bipartisan legislation in the U.S. House requiring the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to notify individuals in the event their personal information stored in the Obamacare exchange is stolen or unlawfully accessed. The Health Exchange Security and Transparency Act requires such notification to occur no later than two business days after discovery by the HHS Secretary. 224 Republicans and 67 Democrats voted for its passage.