HHS nominee's 'common sense' sways Finance panel
This article was originally published in Scrip
After easily gliding through her second hearing in the past week, President Barack Obama's pick to head the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Sylvia Mathews Burwell, appeared all but assured to win the backing of the Senate when her nomination comes to a vote.
At a 14 May hearing of the Senate Finance Committee, which is expected to vote as early as next week on Ms Burwell's confirmation, some of the president's most vocal opponents praised the HHS nominee for her competence in her government and private-sector work, which includes her current role in running the White House Office of Management and Budget.
Ms Burwell pledged throughout the hearing to always keep her door open to any member of Congress – declaring she prefers to have "direct communication if there are concerns" with implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), changes to Medicare and Medicaid or any other issue.
"We don't always agree, but if we can have conversations and those conversations can be specific, I think we can work to figure most things out," Ms Burwell affirmed.
"Would you commit to answering the letters I sent to your department promptly, fully and without reservation?" Senator Charles Grassley (Republican-Iowa) asked, adding that the current HHS chief, Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has avoided such obligations and asserting that the head of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services – one of the largest agencies Ms Burwell would oversee – has appeared to have "disappeared into a bunker."
"I will work to make sure we are giving you all the tools you need to do the work that you need to do," Ms Burwell responded.
"You have a fresh start with Congress and with the public, but if you are going to make the most of that opportunity, you're going to have to do things differently than they've been done," Mr Grassley told the HHS nominee.
But, he said, "you're going to have to break the by any means necessary mindset that we have seen in the past five years," which he said many members of Congress have viewed as "lawless."
"There are challenging issues," Ms Burwell said. "With many of you I've had the opportunity to have to call with things that are positive and actually talk about things that are difficult. And that is something I consider my responsibility to do."
"I take the issues very seriously," she added.
"I have found her remarkably responsive," Senator Tom Coburn (Republican-Oklahoma) – one of President Obama's toughest critics – said about Ms Burwell. "She's going to be committed to do the right things and to keep Congress involved."
"She's a great listener," Senator Coburn said. "Even when she has her mind made up, which sometimes happens, she will listen to another point of view to gain information that she might not have. And that's a characteristic too often that we don't see as members of Congress in members of the administration, whether they are Republican or Democrat."
"She comes to Washington with a lot of commonsense," the Oklahoma lawmaker said, in assuring his fellow Republicans of Ms Burwell's competence. "My favorite quote is 'There's a thimble and a half full of commonsense in Washington.' And she's the half."
Last week, Ms Burwell sailed through her first confirmation hearing at the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which does not vote on the nominee, but traditionally gets first shot at scrutinizing any HHS secretary candidate because of the panel's oversight of the agency (scripintelligence.com, 9 May 2014).
President Obama nominated Ms Burwell for the HHS post after Secretary Sebelius last month said she was ready to step down after five years on the job – departing on a high note of more than 8 million enrolled in ACA healthcare plans after overseeing the calamitous launch of the federal exchange website, HealthCare.gov (scripintelligence.com, 14 April 2014, 11 April 2014).