Last week, the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce heard three "experts" on abortion policy testify on H.R. 358, the "Protect Life Act," one of several bills before Congress right now aimed at reducing access to legal abortion services.
Mr. Reynolds, who has written extensively about his opposition to such policies, testified in 1997 against the nomination of Bill Lann Lee, President Bill Clinton's choice to be the assistant attorney general for civil rights, the other major civil rights position in the federal government.
One health policy expert testified that the extra payments to Medicare Advantage plans averaged 13percentt -- or $1,100 per enrollee -- in 2009 alone.
An expert from the liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities testified that the proposal was a vast improvement over a previous version Republicans pushed last year.
Since 2003, the former House speaker's Center for Health Transformation has taken an active role in circulating policy papers, testifying at congressional hearings and using other forums to build support for dozens of pieces of legislation and federal policy initiatives that would financially benefit clients who paid as much as $200,000 a year for his services, records show.
Citing executive privilege, the White House refused to send Doug Badger, special assistant to the president for health policy, to testify before the House Ways and Means Committee.
But when economists write articles for the opinion pages of newspapers and magazines, appear on television to discuss matters of economic policy or testify before parliamentary committees, the audience is often unaware of their non-academic affiliations.
MR. ROGERS, who calls himself a "public policy junkie," has testified 11 times before Congress on energy issues.
For example, David N. Baker, the vice president for law and public policy at Earthlink, testified that his company had a two-step process for maintaining such data.
