OGR Chairman Issa "Delays" Hearings on Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. Affected Families Stunned.
Yesterday The Canary Party and her partners who have worked for a year on getting hearings on vaccine injury in Congress were informed that the hearing on the VICP that was set for December 4th has been postponed until next year. We had a call this morning with the staff of the House Committee on Oversight and Government to get more clarity on their decision, and were informed that while the community of vaccine injured families is eager to testify, they were finding "reluctance" from others to participate in the hearings.
Our response? Of course they don't want to participate in these hearings! Those both inside and outside of government who are involved in the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program and the monumental injustice that is being inflicted on untold thousands of vaccine injured children do not want to have to show up and explain what they have done under oath!
One thing is clear... Vaccine interests have been fighting this hearing in a way we have never seen before.
Boiling down the message we received from OGR... they still want to work with us on things, and they might reschedule the hearings for next year. Do they mean it or is it just a stall tactic? We don't know.
We STRONGLY encourage you to take time today and call the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and let them know how disappointed you are with their decision to pull the plug on hearings for our injured children a mere two weeks before the event. Feel free to share with them your story.
Phone: (202) 225-5074
And call your Congressional representatives and tell them you want hearings on vaccine injury.
Chairman Darrell Issa
Oversight and Government Reform Committee
2157 Rayburn Building
Washington DC
Dear Chairman Issa,
Thank you for the opportunity to discuss recent developments with your staffers. On behalf of the many dedicated advocates who have been working so hard on the VICP hearing, we must express our great disappointment over your decision to defer hearings into the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (NVICP).
When you first raised the prospect of hearings with some of us last April, you raised the hopes of thousands of families who have experienced vaccine injury, many of whom have encountered mistreatment, abuse and outright fraud at the hands of the NVICP. As we discussed privately on numerous occasions, comprehensive hearings into the many faces of malfeasance within the VICP offer a unique opportunity to shine a light on how wildly the reality of the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 has veered from the original intent of Congress. We believe the path forward you have chosen--delaying the hearing into 2014 in order to receive an update of the 1999 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on the VICP as well as an update of the 2006 NVICP strategic plan from HHS—is well-intentioned. But for the community of vaccine injured families, it represents a retreat into more of the same and only delays a true investigation of the failures of the NVICP. These involve the neglect, abuse and suffering of thousands of American families, including painful injury, lifelong disability, economic devastation and death. Congress’1986 Act and its VICP are what enable these tragedies to continue every day. “Strategic plan updates” prepared by HHS officials will only give the NVICP the opportunity to stonewall, while the kind of GAO report that would really hold the NVICP accountable would take more than a year not just a few months. As we said to your staffers, we’re interested in providing input to the scope of a GAO project, but we’re pessimistic at what it can accomplish in the time available.
On a more personal note, those of us who were close to the preparation for these hearings were dismayed at the abrupt change in direction reflected in this decision. It leaves us concerned that special interests have intervened at the eleventh hour with more money and institutional power than the community of affected families can muster. And while we were dismayed, we were not surprised, because we all know the power and reach of the interests that have long sought to suppress these concerns. We are also not surprised that you encountered reluctance among potential panelists to participate in the discussion of a “divisive” issue; that reluctance should be the reason to move resolutely forward not an excuse for delay. Your resolve to move forward earlier this year raised all of our hopes, and we allowed ourselves to believe that decent Congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle would have the courage to speak the truth to power.
We remain hopeful.
We intend to continue working together so that our legitimate grievances may still be heard. If the hearing must be deferred, we would ask this time for a firm and public commitment before year end to a date certain in early 2014. We respectfully request that any GAO investigation be focused strongly on what you have called “crash reports” of vaccine injury as well as the abuses in the NVICP of the petitions of vaccine injured families. And in good conscience, we must demand that the scope of any hearing next year encompass the enormity of the waste, fraud and abuse in the VICP, however uncomfortable those topics might be for some. Anything less would be a betrayal more profound than our worst fears.
Sincerely,
Jennifer Larson and Mark Blaxill
The Canary Party
(Note: Letter has been updated to change adressee from ORG staffers to Congressman Issa himself.)
MY ATTORNEY LEFT ME HANGING YEARS AGO I WAS ONE OF THE FIRST FIVE THOUSAND TO FILE AGAINST HOMELAND SECURITY ACT I DONT KNOW WHERE MY SUIT IS.MY SON IS NINE AND SUFFERING FROM ETHYL MERCURY POISIONING.
Posted by: LUCY MEDINA | November 22, 2013 at 07:32 PM
Follow the money. Looks like Pharma and Health care Providers combines are Issa's top money givers.
http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/industries.php?cycle=Career&cid=N00007017&type=I
Why is anyone surprised? Rep Dan Burton has a vaccine injured grandson and over two decades he could not crack the code of omerta.
Posted by: Ottoschnaut | November 22, 2013 at 09:56 AM
"Anything truly effectual against top-down-power-agendas at the federal level seems to take the high public level of opposition ..."
This about sums it up; that's what it's going to have to take. A high public level of opposition.
I've not seen those numbers, yet though. For whatever reason, the numbers just aren't yet on our side, for various reasons.
What will it take? Not sure I have the answer to that question. I darned straight know that's the answer though...NUMBERS IN OPPOSITION.
Posted by: Bayareamom | November 21, 2013 at 09:19 PM
The federal government has a long history of abuses, including the long fought, late recognition and (meager) compensation of victims of its nuclear radiation program going back many decades. There are still people being wrongfully exposed. Read about it in the book, _Doubt is Their Product_. It would be an historical anomaly for vaccine injuries to be recognized, fairly compensated or prevented without the most vigorous and aggressive legal and political campaign. I can't elaborate on what that would consist of, but I don't think that a hearing held at the discretion of the guilty is going to begin to solve this catastrophe.
That said, I think the world of all those who have tried so hard, especially The Canary Party. In the short time that The Canary Party has been in existence, they have made tremendous gains and very significantly, have been successful in bringing the problems to light and have been instrumental in forming a strong growing coalition and have put the opposition on notice, which is no small feat.
Posted by: Linda | November 21, 2013 at 08:54 PM
re: "Is a hearing even the right way to approach this? Seriously, what is the lawful procedure that citizens should take when their government willfully persists in denying them basic rights in some cases and in others building obstacles or removing them? Aside from complaining to them, what can be legally done to challenge the illegality of their actions and inaction?"
Anything truly effectual against top-down-power-agendas at the federal level seems to take the high public level of opposition such as seen with SOPA or open military involvement in Syria (not that we can assume these have been abandoned in all forms).
Originally, the federal government didn't have jurisdiction over health issues. The early states only entered "the union" under assurances of significant sovereignty protections that have now been essentially abandoned. There is some movement lately toward reapplying principles of state nullification of unconstitutional federal laws, such as with the ACA, or in establishing preparatory legislation to go into effect in the event of very possible financial collapse shortly.
Posted by: Jeannette Bishop | November 21, 2013 at 08:08 PM
Also wanted to add that the picture of Lucy pulling out the football at the last minute....again, after CB had trusted her... again, well that just sums up this whole thing doesn't it?
Posted by: Kristine | November 21, 2013 at 07:33 PM
Well maybe be all are going to have to start saving up for bail money.
Posted by: Benedetta | November 21, 2013 at 06:42 PM
Linda wrote, "Is a hearing even the right way to approach this? Seriously, what is the lawful procedure that citizens should take when their government willfully persists in denying them basic rights in some cases and in others building obstacles or removing them? Aside from complaining to them, what can be legally done to challenge the illegality of their actions and inaction?"
Just asked my attorney husband re: the above. He states the only way to legally challenge this is via a federal lawsuit.
Personally, I don't believe a hearing is the right way to go, given the alliances between government and corporate interests. Big Pharma lobbyists and others have a huge stake re: the outcome of this hearing (should it ever unfold).
Certain comments re: the above have stated those that don't serve our public should resign or be forced out and replaced with those that will. Who might that be? The ones in POWER preside over those that sit on these Committees. There are those that preside over the auspices of big pharma that have enormous wealth, sway and power over this issue. It is THOSE people that ANYONE will have to contend with when they're dealing with this issue.
I think the rather naive assumption with many here is that we can simply 'replace' those that sit on these Committees and then, as if by magic, these issues will evaporate.
I wish that were true.
Posted by: Bayareamom | November 21, 2013 at 06:01 PM
Who specifically was responsible for canceling the hearing? Issa? The statement from EBCALA differs so I'm confused what exactly went down. Who cancelled? What was the reason given? EBCALA says Issa cancelled because the topic was too "divisive" but if it was Issa who proposed the hearing- how does that make sense. Can someone explain exactly what happened so that I can call the appropriate people with accurate info?!
Posted by: Kristine | November 21, 2013 at 03:39 PM
For the U.S. government to establish a kangaroo court for vaccine injury, where plaintiffs are denied access to records, science, a jury, and all the other protections, benefits and processes mandated as part of any other court proceeding in this country, for the purposes of insulating the government and its cronies from litigation, and of keeping these cases out of the public eye, has got to be illegal.
Is a hearing even the right way to approach this? Seriously, what is the lawful procedure that citizens should take when their government willfully persists in denying them basic rights in some cases and in others building obstacles or removing them? Aside from complaining to them, what can be legally done to challenge the illegality of their actions and inaction?
Posted by: Linda | November 21, 2013 at 02:34 PM
I personally can't think of anyway better to encourage those "reluctant" if they have anything of substance to add than to hold the hearing as far as prepared. I'm supposing they want to compile a mostly pro-nvicp panel that won't appear blatantly lacking in representation of those who've had to go through the system.
Posted by: Jeannette Bishop | November 21, 2013 at 12:42 PM
BELOW IS A LIST OF OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM COMMITTEE MEMBERS- CALL EVERY ONE!!Please let your member of Congress know you still want to see these hearings happen as soon as possible. Phone: 202-224-3121 and ask to be connected to them
Chairman
Rep. Darrell E. IssaMember
Darrell E. Issa
(CA-49)
WEBSITE Ranking Member
Rep. Elijah Cummings, Ranking Member
Elijah Cummings
(MD-7)
WEBSITE Republican Committee Members
Blake FarentholdMember
Blake Farenthold
(TX-27)
WEBSITE Cynthia LummisMember
Cynthia Lummis
(WY)
WEBSITE Doc HastingsMember
Doc Hastings
(WA-04)
WEBSITE Doug CollinsMember
Doug Collins
(GA-09)
WEBSITE James LankfordMember
James Lankford
(OK-5)
WEBSITE Jason ChaffetzMember
Jason Chaffetz
(UT-03)
WEBSITE Jim JordanMember
Jim Jordan
(OH-04)
WEBSITE John DuncanMember
John Duncan
(TN-02)
WEBSITE John MicaMember
John Mica
(FL-07)
WEBSITE Justin AmashMember
Justin Amash
(MI-3)
WEBSITE Kerry BentivolioMember
Kerry Bentivolio
(MI-11)
WEBSITE Mark MeadowsMember
Mark Meadows
(NC-11)
WEBSITE Michael TurnerMember
Michael Turner
(OH-03)
WEBSITE Pat MeehanMember
Pat Meehan
(PA-7)
WEBSITE Patrick McHenryMember
Patrick McHenry
(NC-10)
WEBSITE Paul GosarMember
Paul Gosar
(AZ-1)
WEBSITE Rob WoodallMember
Rob Woodall
(GA-07)
WEBSITE Ron DeSantisMember
Ron DeSantis
(FL-06)
WEBSITE Scott DesjarlaisMember
Scott Desjarlais
(TN-4)
WEBSITE Thomas MassieMember
Thomas Massie
(KY-04)
WEBSITE Tim WalbergMember
Tim Walberg
(MI-7)
WEBSITE Trey GowdyMember
Trey Gowdy
(SC-4)
WEBSITE Democrat Committee Members
Carolyn MaloneyMember
Carolyn Maloney
(NY-14)
WEBSITE Danny DavisMember
Danny Davis
(IL-7)
WEBSITE Eleanor Holmes NortonMember
Eleanor Holmes Norton
(D.C.)
WEBSITE Gerald E. ConnollyMember
Gerald E. Connolly
(VA-11)
WEBSITE Jackie SpeierMember
Jackie Speier
(CA-12)
WEBSITE Jim CooperMember
Jim Cooper
(TN-5)
WEBSITE John TierneyMember
John Tierney
(MA-6)
WEBSITE Matt CartwrightMember
Matt Cartwright
(PA-17)
WEBSITE Michelle Lujan GrishamMember
Michelle Lujan Grisham
(NM-1)
WEBSITE Peter WelchMember
Peter Welch
(VT)
WEBSITE Stephen LynchMember
Stephen Lynch
(MA-9)
WEBSITE Steven HorsfordMember
Steven Horsford
(NV-4)
WEBSITE Tammy DuckworthMember
Tammy Duckworth
(IL-8)
WEBSITE Tony CardenasMember
Tony Cardenas
(CA-29)
WEBSITE William Lacy ClayMember
William Lacy Clay
(MO-1)
WEBSITE
Posted by: SarahW | November 21, 2013 at 12:37 PM
Who are these people who are "reluctant to participate"? Names please. I think the most effective thing we can do as parents is contact every member of the Oversight and Gov't Reform Committee and demand they schedule a firm new date and get a commitment from them that they will hold this hearing. We have to remind them who they work for. I checked the Government Reform Committee calendar for December 2013 and there is not a single hearing scheduled. Nada, So why was this hearing postponed other than to stall.
Here is a listing of the Oversght and Government Reform committee members:
http://oversight.house.gov/subcommittee/full-committee/
Posted by: SarahW | November 21, 2013 at 12:30 PM
The Congresspersons responsible for backing out of this are likely motivated by threats coming from the opposition. The way to fight this is to mount pressure from the other direction - to make it so that if they don't do their job and follow through with this hearing, that if they demonstrate that their allegiance is not to the people of this country, that they will be removed from power and be shamed. The message has to be that if you don't do your job, that we will find someone else who will. We have to make it happen.
Posted by: Linda | November 21, 2013 at 09:59 AM
It is horrific that these crooks and liars should just be let off the hook. The OGR has to consider that if the officials do not want to co-operate they have much to hide - if the committee does not insist on being able to ask the questions it is not doing its job. The longer it goes on the worse it is.
Posted by: John Stone | November 21, 2013 at 09:24 AM
Can someone please produce a list of the committee members here?
Posted by: Zed | November 21, 2013 at 08:34 AM
What is the purpose of the Congressional briefing ahead of the House reform committee hearings? Is it to see your cards in advance?
Posted by: Linda | November 21, 2013 at 12:00 AM
Color me shocked.. not really
Posted by: L Land | November 20, 2013 at 10:32 PM
Very sad.
Posted by: Twyla | November 20, 2013 at 08:09 PM
"Delayed" will turn into canceled unless people call O.G.R. and their member of Congress and complain! PLEASE CALL!!! Thank you. Rolf Hazlehurst
Posted by: Rolf Hazlehurst | November 20, 2013 at 08:05 PM
Forget subtleties at this point. Either mama bear's idea of a mock hearing Dirt Harry style or a full page ad somewhere. Any money needs to be going to strong action now.
Posted by: Forget Subtleties at This Point | November 20, 2013 at 06:48 PM
Who are the others who are reluctant to participate in the hearings? I called (202)225-5074. Mark Marin and Emily Martin were busy and neither could take the call. The person who answered the phone was not authorized to release information about the reluctant others.
Posted by: Dan Burns | November 20, 2013 at 06:43 PM
I don’t believe we will get justice for this planned children genocide with toxic vaccines in the US Congress, which is totally sold to pharma cartels. We should sue these cartels and their govt collaborators in the International Criminal Court at Nuremberg-like trial.
Posted by: no-vac | November 20, 2013 at 05:59 PM
Thank you Mark & Jennifer for this response...well-stated and direct to the point.
I wish we actually had a democracy...we don't, but I'll stand by those who at least still believe in the idea of one.
Posted by: Stand Up! | November 20, 2013 at 04:43 PM
I think this sums it up for me ...
"Chairman Issa’s resolve to move forward earlier this year raised all of our hopes, and we allowed ourselves to believe that decent Congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle would have the courage to speak the truth to power."
Admittedly .. as slow as I am .. I think I understand the political difficulties of speaking .. "truth to power".
Having said that .. and .. with great respect for the "Canary Party and her partners" .. who are fighting for myself and my family "within the belly of the beast" that is Congress .. I would express myself differently .. such as ..
First of all .. at my advanced age .. any politician must first earn my "respect" .. and .. until they do .. I do not "allow" myself to have confidence and trust in them .. being politicians .. none .. regardless of which side of the aisle they sit on.
Second .. I do not feel "great disappointment" at the decision to defer the hearings .. what I feel is "greatly betrayed".
Third .. I do not feel the "path Chairman Issa has offered going forward is well-intentioned" .. instead .. I believe it to be a "ruse" .. which Webster's describes as a "stratagem, trick, or artifice".
Fourth .. I do not feel that "ruse" .. however "well intentioned" .. represents a "retreat into more of the same and only delays a true investigation of the failures of the NVICP" .. what that "ruse" actually represents is the continuation of a deliberate "deception" by Congress (Issa?) to avoid a "true investigation of the failures of the NVICP"
Fifth .. I do not feel the “Strategic plan updates prepared by HHS officials will only give the NVICP the opportunity to stonewall, while the kind of GAO report that would really hold the NVICP accountable would take more than a year not just a few months". The cynic in me suggests the requirement of those "updates and reports" actually gives the Committee (Issa?) on Oversight and Government the "opportunity to stonewall" for however long it suits their (his) own .. political .. vested interests.
Sixth .. I don't feel that anyone can "provide input to the scope of a GAO project" .. without first demonstrating the collective .. "grass-roots" power .. of providing political "input" in the home districts of those on this particular committee .. on both sides of the aisle .. that would galvanize them into meaningful action .. which is already .. at the very least .. a decade LATE.
(MEMO TO THE "CANARY PARTY AND OTHERS" .. TAKE THE GLOVES OFF AND MAKE CERTAIN EVERY MEMBER OF THAT COMMITTEE UNDERSTANDS THEY ARE GOING TO BE CHALLENGED IN THEIR HOME DISTRICTS FOR HAVING BETRAYED YOU .. AND .. US.)
Seventh .. I will stop .. but .. really .. am I "hopeful" as we go forward?
Again .. please do not interpret my comments as dismissive of all the "Canary Party and others" have worked so hard to accomplish .. which I and my family greatly appreciates .. they are meant to express my own outrage at the "power and reach of the interests that have long sought to suppress" the concerns of my family .. and .. much abused .. community.
Without the "Canary Party and others" .. I am like my 14 year old "regressed" grandson .. having no voice at all.
AND THE BAND PLAYS ON
Posted by: Bob Moffitt | November 20, 2013 at 04:39 PM
I'm surprised to find I'm genuinely disappointed to read this. I thought I'd given up on the idea of a meaningful response from Washington on the devastation of a generation of children. Turns out, I was still holding onto a little hope.
Posted by: Alison MacNeil | November 20, 2013 at 03:20 PM
..."If you are not going to serve the public, but rather big business and their special interest groups and lobbyists, then please resign and go work for them directly…or are you already?"
They are already, if not directly so, then indirectly.
Someone very close to me once said that young students of today need to go out there and learn "What makes the world wag."
She meant THIS.
Can't say I'm surprised with this announcement; can honestly say I saw it coming.
Posted by: Bayareamom | November 20, 2013 at 03:08 PM
Disgusted. I called to make a comment to the committee... left a "nice" message. I hate this-- but I am going to call my Congressmen.... and try to get something scheduled.. this time not with the "gatekeeper" on medical issues... that was so condescending to me last time.... " But vaccines save lives"
Vaccines leave a trail of destruction!
Posted by: tara mcmillan | November 20, 2013 at 02:58 PM
This is not football or hockey or any other sport, where if the opposing team doesn't show up, the game is rescheduled. Let the meeting take place and shame them with an empty chair (Dirty Harry did that to great effect).
In fact, that would make a nice photo-op. All the Canaries showing up on Dec 4 carrying an empty chair, maybe a microphone. "We were here. Where were you?"
They weren't there before, during and after our children's devastation eiither
Posted by: Mama Bear | November 20, 2013 at 02:12 PM
Speechless, but not surprised. The stonewalling, cover-ups, and corruption continue…unchecked. Meanwhile, the "autism" epidemic rages on…unchecked. Profits for Big pHARMa grow bigger…unchecked. The ethics and morals of our elected officials head further south…unchecked. Vaccine-injured children and their families continue to suffer and be left without meaningful help or services…unchecked.
Shame on every single elected official who has allowed this hearing to be delayed. News flash for you: you, your children, and your grandchildren will be joining our ranks, of that you can be sure, because you continue to allow the use of neurotoxic, immune, gut, and nervous-sytem damaging vaccines, poisonous GMO foods, nerve-damaging pesticides, and dangerous chemicals…unchecked. You and yours will not escape your unethical and immoral decisions.
If you are not going to serve the public, but rather big business and their special interest groups and lobbyists, then please resign and go work for them directly…or are you already?
Posted by: Laura Hayes | November 20, 2013 at 01:52 PM
A very sad announcement. "Next year" is an election year for the entire House.
Let us hope the delay is only a few months and not until after the election or beyond.
Perhaps those from Pharma and the CDC who do not want to testify could be provided with paper bags to wear over their heads... and could be allowed anonymity.
Posted by: cmo | November 20, 2013 at 01:49 PM
That's why they invented indictments and subpeonas - to force the accused to show up and face the charges against them.
I wouldn't be surprised if the powerful testimonies given at the IACC meeting days ago didn't compel this maneuver intended to shut down further exposure to slow momentum.
Posted by: Linda | November 20, 2013 at 01:45 PM