With the threat of terrorism diverting the nation's attention in recent days, it's easy to forget that other very important issues also are being debated and decided in Washington, D.C. A solid recovery in the stock market has apparently muted some of the public anger over the misdeeds on Wall Street, and there are reports that Democrats in Congress are watering down the financial reforms necessary to prevent a repeat of some of the conditions that brought on the current recession.

Another major issue being worked on, but not receiving much public attention, is health care reform. After a year or more of debate and legislative maneuvering, the House and Senate both have passed health care reform bills. But before any reform measure can become law, the two different versions have to be reconciled, which means bargaining between House and Senate leaders.

Because health care reform will impact one-sixth of the U.S. economy and will impact in some way nearly every American, this process should be open and transparent.

At this point, it does not appear that this will happen. Instead, it looks like closed-door meetings.

The hundreds of millions of dollars spent to "buy" the votes of a few wavering Democratic senators and the last-minute changes to the Senate's version of health care reform demonstrates that the public should know what changes are being made, what deals are being cut and what's in the fine print of the 2,700 pages of health care legislation — before it becomes law.

In the interest of keeping the public informed, C-SPAN has offered to televise the House-Senate conference committee that will help merge the Senate and House versions of health care reform into a single bill.

But so far, congressional leaders and the White House are expressing no interest in opening up the process of hammering out a final health care reform bill. The current plan is for closed-door meetings involving just a few people, notably House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and White House officials.

For his part, President Barack Obama wants to speed up the process and is asking House and Senate Democrats to bypass the normal negotiations to shape a final bill. Obama is suggesting, in the interest of speed, that the House work with the Senate bill and amend it before sending it back to the Senate for final approval.

Obama wants a final bill on his desk before his presents his State of the Union address.

While changing the normal House and Senate negotiations might not be a problem, rushing the process and keeping the public in the dark is a problem. The public should know what health care reform will cost and who will pay the bill. The public should see what congressional leaders do, if anything, to increase competition among private health insurers, such as allowing competition across state lines.

On the campaign trail, Obama promised an open and transparent administration. The prospect of the final version of a health care reform bill being worked out behind closed doors flies in the face of the president's promise for change.

And while having a landmark piece of legislation signed into law by the time of his State of the Union address has significant political attraction, the deadline is artificial and the emphasis on speed is troubling.

The health care debate has been going on for more than a year. There is no reason to rush it through in the final stage — other than politics and the fear that the more people learn about details of health care reform, the less they might like it.

When Obama was campaigning for president, he pushed the need for health care reform and vowed, "We'll have the negotiations televised on C-SPAN, so the people can see who is making arguments on behalf of their constituents and who is making arguments on behalf of the drug companies or the insurance companies."

It was a good idea then — and it's a good idea now. Obama should honor his pledge to make health care reform more open and transparent rather than rush it through in closed-door meetings.