Grassley questioning whether HHS healthcare campaign is 'propaganda'

House officials spent Wednesday deflecting a Republican's charge that its online campaign in support of healthcare reform was improperly funded with taxpayer money.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) sent a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius asking for details about the campaign, the link for which is available on the HHS Web site. Grassley specifically requested Sebelius to explain how the petition was funded and whether it conflicted with pre-existing federal rules on political communications.

The Obama administration clarified that its "State Your Support" initiative, a campaign that asks users to e-mail the president their support for his healthcare goals, complies with federal rules that prevent taxpayer dollars from funding public efforts to lobby Congress.

"Any possible misuse of appropriated funds by the executive branch to engage in publicity or propaganda in support of an administration priority is a matter that must be investigated and taken seriously," Grassley wrote in the letter.

"In 2005, Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi [D-Calif.] said the use of official funds for similar activities were 'underhanded tactics' and that these tactics 'are not worthy of our great democracy,'" added Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee. "Although Speaker Pelosi and I do not agree on many things, I agree with her view that taxpayer money should not be used to run a 'government propaganda machine.'"

The White House dismissed all of Grassley's concerns on Wednesday. In their response, obtained by the Plum Line, a member of the administration's legal team said he had "carefully reviewed the website and the pertinent legal authorities and confirmed that the link is entirely legal and proper."

The adviser also specified that the link on the HHS Web page was not the same as an encouragement to support a particular policy -- the latter of which taxpayer dollars may not fund. Ultimately, the White House did not provide the exhaustive document of details Grassley originally requested.

This week's dispute is only the latest chapter in a series of similar struggles between congressional Republicans and HHS over healthcare communications and federal regulations.

Earlier this month, Sebelius fielded significant GOP criticism after the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a "cease and desist" to Medicare Advantage providers that were informing their beneficiaries of possible plan cuts in Democrats' proposed healthcare reforms — a move at the time the department said also violated federal laws.

Republicans quickly labeled that limit a "gag order," and many mobilized to defeat what they felt was a new, unwarranted constraint on speech. But the CMS has since insisted it was only trying to remind plan providers about long-standing federal guidelines, not bar them altogether from communicating with their beneficiaries.