WASHINGTON, DC – House Energy and Commerce Committee leaders today sent a letter to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Marilyn Tavenner regarding a document uncovered by the committee in which Tavenner instructs the top CMS spokeswoman to delete an email exchange between CMS, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the White House. The email is dated October 5, 2013, five days into the disastrous launch of HealthCare.gov. This letter follows a recent memo sent to the committee from CMS regarding the potential loss of emails pertaining to the committee’s October 10, 2013, request for documents surrounding the implementation of the president’s health law.

The leaders write, “Over 10 months after sending this request, last week your staff informed the Committee on Energy and Commerce that copies of your e-mail communications could have been lost. CMS also informed the National Archives and Record Administration that it was possible that some of your email records ‘may not be available to HHS.’ This unusual development is unfortunately part of a pattern of this administration’s inability to properly preserve records. In the letter to the National Archives, CMS represents the potential loss of your emails as the result of the ‘extremely high volume of emails’ that are received daily.

“The day after a CMS official informed the Committee about the potential loss of your emails, HHS provided the Committee with additional documents related to our review of HealthCare.gov. One of the e-mails in this production shows that you directed a subordinate to delete an email communication featuring a number of White House representatives.”

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