House panel threatens Medicare chief over refusal to testify

In the latest tussle between House Republicans and the Bush administration, House Small Business Committee Chairman Donald Manzullo, R-Ill., Wednesday called for the resignation of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Thomas Scully and said he is considering whether to pursue punishment for Scully's failure to testify even after the panel served a subpoena on him this week.

"I asked for his resignation today because if he thinks he is too good to sit with taxpayers, he does a disservice to every medical provider and recipients of Medicare and Medicaid," Manzullo told CongressDaily.

The committee held a hearing Wednesday on small healthcare providers and asked Scully to sit on a panel with small business representatives to discuss regulation. Scully defended his decision not to testify on the same panel as those he regulates.

"The department did not feel it was a good precedent to be set ... The department was not extended normal courtesies," Scully said in a phone interview.

Manzullo said Scully's appearance on the same panel as business representatives would not set a precedent, citing several other hearings the committee has held where administration representatives have sat on panels with small business owners.

Manzullo said Small Business Administrator Hector Barreto has appeared with business representatives, Yellowstone Park officials have appeared with the snowmobile industry, and officials from a Los Alamos lab have appeared with Native Americans and Hispanics who charged they were unfairly denied contracts.

"We're exploring various remedies to show that you can't stiff a congressional committee," Manzullo said. "He was not there when the hearing began," the chairman said. If the committee decides to pursue the issue, the full House would have to vote on any official action, aides said. A spokesman for House Speaker Hastert said he was unaware of the matter.

Scully said he was at the hearing, but submitted a written comment and left when it became clear he would have to sit on the panel with business representatives.

"I am happy to testify to anybody on any matter at any time," he said, noting that he has met with many small business officials in the past. "This is purely an issue of respect between the branches [of government]," he said.