Powerful Senate committee demands testimony from CEO of bankrupt Steward hospital chain

Federal lawmakers investigating the Steward Health Care bankruptcy moved on Thursday to compel testimony from chief executive Ralph de la Torre about his role in the hospital system’s financial collapse.

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which had not issued a subpoena to a potential witness since 1981, voted to require de la Torre to face questioning at a planned September 12 hearing. The committee, headed by Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, previously has put CEOs from pharmaceutical companies and other industries on the hot seat but all of those executives testified voluntarily.

Amid a 16 to 4 bipartisan vote for issuing the subpoena, four Republican senators, including Rand Paul from Kentucky and Tommy Tuberville from Alabama, voted against the motion.

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