Tensions ran high during the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s hearing on Obamacare’s rocky rollout Thursday, with Democratic Rep. Frank Pallone (D., NJ) yelling at Republican Rep. Joe Barton (R., Texas) and denouncing the oversight hearing as a "monkey court".
Pallone’s indignation came in response to Barton’s questions to Cheryl Campbell, Senior Vice President of Obamacare contractor CGI Federal, over privacy concerns with the much-maligned website, healthcare.gov.
Once Barton’s time had expired, Pallone used his allotted time to say the hearing had "no legitimacy", and to accuse Barton and his Republican colleagues of "trying to scare everybody", claiming no privacy laws applied in this instance. When Barton asked Pallone to yield, the New Jersey Democrat yelled that he would "not yield to a monkey court." Pallone loudly repeated his refusal to yield multiple times before once more accusing Republicans of scare tactics.