While racing to the finish line to complete months of health care reform debate, Republicans are urging their Democratic colleagues in the Senate to slow down and allow more transparency in the molding of a final piece of legislation.

With bills approved by both the House and Senate and the somewhat Herculean task of merging both measures into one seeking President Barack Obama’s signature, Republicans are not the only one seeking a more open process, however.

In a recent letter to the leadership of both the House and Senate, Brian P. Lamb, chairman and chief executive officer of cable network C-SPAN, requested the opening all such negotiations to electronic media coverage, pledging his station’s resources to the endeavor.

John Cornyn

That request has found support from Senate Republicans, including Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, who is challenging all open government advocates to support full coverage of House and Senate negotiations.

In a statement, Cornyn said that challenge extends to Obama “who promised that transparency would be a ‘touchstone’ of his administration.

“My Republican colleagues and the American people have been largely shut out of the health care reform proceedings thus far, as Democrat leaders packaged their health care bills behind closed doors and layered them with billions of dollars in sweetheart deals to woo undecided Democrats,” Cornyn said.

He added concern that “this veil of secrecy” will remain as the two bills are merged.

Circumventing committee review

Cornyn’s comments come as press reports indicate that during a Jan. 5 meeting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Obama recommended forgoing formal committee review of the bills. He instead wants to hold negotiations between leaders of both chambers of Congress in order to expedite the drafting of a final bill.

In a statement, Reid’s spokesman, Jim Manley, said Reid appreciates C-SPAN’s “commitment to ensuring transparency and we will continue to work to ensure that the American people have access to the work of their elected representatives.”

Manley noted the numerous hours of televised committee hearings in both the House and Senate broadcast by the network during the formation of each congressional chamber’s bill, but also noted “Republicans’ shamelessly transparent strategy to stop reform at all costs by relying on misinformation and myths.

“Their ploys are broadcast on C-SPAN for all of America to see, as much of it happens on the Senate floor,” Reid said. “For example, at the beginning of the floor debate Senator Reid asked consent from Senate Republicans to file all amendments in advance and post them on the Internet, but the Republican leadership refused this request. During consideration of the Sanders amendment, Republicans publicly made clear they would use procedural games to turn ‘transparency’ into a tactic of delay and obstruction.”

Without committing to C-SPAN’s request, Manley said, “We are committed to transparency in the legislative process.”