In his extraordinary question-and-answer exchange with House Republicans, President Obama fielded a query from Representative Jason Chaffetz, a freshman from Utah, who asserted that Mr. Obama and Democrats had shut Republicans out of the health care debate and that the president had broken a campaign promise to let C-Span show health care negotiations on live television.

“When you stood up before the American people multiple times and said you would broadcast the health care debates on C-Span, you didn’t,” Mr. Chaffetz said. “I was disappointed, and I think a lot of Americans were disappointed.”

Mr. Chaffetz, acknowledging his colleague from Tennessee, Representative Phil Roe, added: “You said you’d go line by line through the health care debate — or through the health care bill. And there were six of us, including Dr. Phil Roe, who sent you a letter and said we would like to take you up on that offer; we’d like to come. We never heard a letter. We never got a call. We were never involved in any of those discussions.”

Mr. Obama, during his 2008 presidential campaign, said repeatedly that C-Span would be allowed to cover negotiations on health care legislation between his administration and private stakeholders, like the insurance and pharmaceutical industries and doctor and hospital groups.

Most of those negotiations actually took place last spring and summer at the White House, and Mr. Chaffetz accurately noted that they were conducted behind closed doors.

Mr. Obama, in his response, insisted that much of the health care debate was carried on C-Span as part of the proceedings in Congress, including hearings and floor debate.

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