is this intimidation

In letters sent late Saturday night, Representative Henry Waxman called on the chief executive officers of AT&T Inc., Verizon Communications Inc., Caterpillar Inc. and Deere & Co. to provide evidence to support costs they said will result from the recently passed health-care reform bill.
Waxman has also requested access to the companies’ internal documents, which one committee Republican says is “an attempt to intimidate and silence opponents of the Democrats’ flawed health-care reform legislation.”

In the letter to AT&T, Waxman demands the company turn over “any documents, including e-mail messages, sent to or prepared or reviewed by senior company officials related to the projected impact of health care reform on AT&T.”

AT&T had said just hours before the letter arrived that taxes related to the health-care legislation will force it to take a $1 billion non-cash charge in the first quarter. And Verizon has said the new legislation will cause the company’s health-care costs to rise.


Waxman of California, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and subcommittee Chairman Bart Stupak of Michigan released letters they wrote to the executives, saying their plans to record expenses against earnings as a result of the law contradict other estimates. The lawmakers requested the executives appear at hearing Stupak plans on April 21.

“The new law is designed to expand coverage and bring down costs, so your assertions are a matter of concern,” Waxman and Stupak, both Democrats, wrote in the letters yesterday. “They also appear to conflict with independent analyses.”