Small groups negotiating healthcare bill

WASHINGTON, Oct. 18 (UPI) -- Republican critics say bills to reform U.S. healthcare are not being negotiated openly as Barack Obama pledged during his presidential campaign.

"This bill is being written in the dark of night," House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, told The Washington Post in a story published Sunday. "The president ought to keep his promise to the American people and open this process up."

During his campaign, Obama said healthcare negotiations would be televised on C-SPAN so people could see which lawmakers were arguing on behalf of constituents and who was arguing on behalf of drug and insurance companies.

Now, as a Senate vote on healthcare nears, three senators and their aides are working on the bill behind closed doors. They soon will be joined by Obama's healthcare team, The Post reported.

On the House side, the Democratic leadership meets daily and then briefs smaller groups of lawmakers, said Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y., who sits on a House subcommittee on health.

"We have meetings and more meetings and gripe sessions," Weiner said. "This process has been almost open to death."