Senator Tom Harkin (Iowa – D) has called for an investigation of Governor Nikki Haley and her use of Federal funds. The contention arises around a health care committee which was established to plan for a health insurance exchange. Harkin states that the issue is whether Haley preordained the findings of the committee. Haley has opposed Obamacare from the very beginning of the health care debate. Harkin takes issue with Haley’s instructions to the committee which conflicted with the original purpose for the panel.
Harkin has asked the inspector general in Health and Human Services to investigate whether her actions constituted misuse of the funds and determine whether the grant should be repaid. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina called Harkin’s assertions being “sour grapes”. “I appreciate Governor Haley’s work against Obamacare and will work with her to defend our state,” Graham said. “We will meet them head-on.”
Tony Keck, director of the S.C. Department of Health and Human Services, was an influential member of the committee and he pointed out that all the committee met in public sessions and all the parameters of the issue were fully discussed before a decision was reached. Keck called Harkin’s accusation a “political ploy”.
Haley spokesperson, Rob Godfrey responded to Harkin’s assertations in an email:
“the liberal senator from Iowa is better off investigating how pro-Obamacare governors are wasting tens of millions of tax dollars studying how to implement a fatally flawed and unconstitutional law that will hopefully soon be struck down by the Supreme Court.”
According to the Hill, Harkins writes, “Spending taxpayer funds to construct an ideologically-motivated façade not only violates Congress’s intent, but also the public’s trust in government”. Perhaps the Senator from Iowa should heed his own advice in this matter. It would seem to a reasonable person, the Senator’s time would better used in calling for a full transparent investigation of what happened in the Fast and Furious debacle.