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Gruber Testimony: Who’s Sitting Where

Jonathan Gruber
Jonathan Gruber / AP
December 8, 2014

On Tuesday morning, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator Marilyn Tavenner will testify before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. As will Jonathan Gruber, the now notorious consultant, who, in leaked videos, claimed that a lack of transparency and the "stupidity of American voters" helped lawmakers pass the Affordable Care Act.

The testimony will be interesting on its own, but you might want to pay attention to where everyone sits.

Administration officials sent a letter, first reported by Politico, to the committee last week requesting that Tavenner be allowed to testify on a separate panel.

"I am writing to reiterate the request made to your staff regarding the structure of the hearing; that is, that Administrator Tavenner be provided the opportunity to testify on a panel comprised solely of government witnesses ... Executive Branch officials are almost always afforded an opportunity to testify on a panel either alone or with other government witnesses," said Jim Esquea, assistant secretary for legislation at HHS.

Gruber and Tavenner are the only two witnesses scheduled to testify at Tuesday’s hearing.

The optics of having Gruber next to Tavenner is something the administration wants to avoid. They’ve spent a lot of time attempting to distance themselves and the law from Gruber and have explicitly disavowed his comments; a side-by-side photo of Gruber and one of the administration’s top health care officials won’t help their case.

The committee said they were considering the administration’s request, and the Washington Free Beacon reached out to Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa’s (R., Calif.) office, but so far no word on tomorrow’s official seating assignments.