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Tag: kathleen sebelius
Obama Health Nominee Wins Bipartisan Support

Obama Health Nominee Wins Bipartisan Support

Noam N. Levey, Tribune Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama’s pick to assume oversight of his signature health law received added bipartisan support Wednesday as more Republicans joined Democrats backing her nomination for secretary of health and human services.

The growing support all but guarantees that Sylvia Mathews Burwell will be confirmed easily by the Senate to succeed Kathleen Sebelius, who has guided implementation of the Affordable Care Act for the past four years.

On Wednesday one of the Senate’s most conservative members, Republican Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, introduced Burwell before her testimony in front of the Senate Finance Committee, praising her as a competent, common-sense leader whom he said he would vote for on the Senate floor.

Last week, Burwell garnered support from Republican senators John McCain of Arizona and Richard Burr of North Carolina.

Burwell’s hearing also signaled an unusual reserve by GOP lawmakers, who in recent years have used almost every opportunity to attack the health law and push for its repeal.

Though committee Republicans kept up criticism of the law, several asked more measured questions about specific fixes for the legislation, rather than renewing their calls for full-scale repeal.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, the senior Republican on the committee, called on Burwell to strengthen state insurance marketplaces created by the health law, several of which struggled in their first year.

Sen. Michael Crapo, R-Idaho, expressed interest in working with Burwell to protect seniors’ access to private Medicare plans, which the law aims to streamline by reducing government subsidies for the insurance companies that offer them.

Burwell, a West Virginia native and the daughter of an optometrist, currently serves as head of the White House Office of Management and Budget, one of the most powerful positions in most administrations.

Burwell is a veteran of the Clinton White House, where she was deputy director of the budget office.

After leaving the federal government, she worked for a decade at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, part of the time as its chief operating officer. Most recently, she headed the Walmart Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

Lauded by Democrats and Republicans for her experience in and out of Washington, she was unanimously confirmed last year for the budget post.

Few believe Burwell’s confirmation as health secretary will end the political fighting over the Affordable Care Act. While the Finance Committee was considering her nomination, other GOP lawmakers kept up their attacks on the law on the Senate floor.

And at the Finance Committee hearing Wednesday, Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, delivered a warning to Burwell that congressional Republicans remained very concerned about how the Obama administration had implemented the law.

“You are going to have to be willing to break the whatever-means-necessary mind-set,” he said.

The committee must vote on Burwell’s nomination before it reaches the floor. Changes in the filibuster rules will allow Democrats to confirm her with a simple majority, eliminating the need for Republican votes.

AFP Photo/Karen Bleier

Poll Roundup: Pryor Hangs Tough

Poll Roundup: Pryor Hangs Tough

As the 2014 midterm elections draw closer, an avalanche of polling data will emerge on the key races that will decide who controls the House of Representatives, the Senate, and statehouses across the country. What follows is a brief summary of some key polls from the week of April 13:

Arkansas
Senator Mark Pryor (D-AR) is one of the most vulnerable incumbents in the nation, but polls keep finding that he’s hanging tough in his re-election battle against Republican congressman Tom Cotton.

The latest survey of the race — which was conducted by Republican firm Harper Polling, on behalf of conservative SuperPAC American Crossroads — shows Pryor and Cotton deadlocked among likely voters at 39 percent, with 30 percent undecided.

Although the poll’s sample tilts right — 48 percent of respondents self-identify as conservative, compared to 31 percent moderate and 17 percent liberal — Pryor has stronger personal ratings than his opponent. Respondents view Pryor favorably by a 42 to 37 percent margin, while they view Cotton unfavorably 39 to 31 percent.

Pryor’s approval rating is lower — 38 percent approve of his job performance, while 44 percent disapprove and 17 percent are unsure — but it greatly outpaces President Barack Obama’s 36 to 60 percent rating. This suggests that Pryor’s conspicuous efforts to distance himself from the White House may be working.

It has now been more than two months since a poll found Cotton leading Pryor. The incumbent currently holds a razor-thin 43 to 42 percent lead in The Huffington Post’spolling average.

Iowa
According to a Washington Free Beaconpoll released Monday, the Iowa’s Republican Senate primary is now essentially a two-way race between state Senator Joni Ernst and former energy executive Mark Jacobs.

The poll, which was conducted by The Polling Company Inc. and WomenTrend, finds Ernst leading Jacobs by a 23 to 20 percent margin. Four other candidates trail in the low single digits, and 40 percent are undecided. That result lines up identically to The Huffington Post’spoll average.

Both of the top candidates have a trump card that could help them score the Republican nomination. Jacobs has loaned his campaign over $1 million from his personal fortune, allowing him to outspend Ernst by a staggering 10-1 margin. Ernst has significant backing from the Tea Party activists who would play a critical role in determining the nominee at a state convention that would take place if no candidate wins 35 percent of the vote in the June 3 primary.

Whoever wins the nomination will face U.S. Representative Bruce Braley (D-IA) in the general election.

Kansas
On Wednesday, TheNew York Timesreported that outgoing Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius was considering running for Senate in her native Kansas. On Friday, a spokeswoman denied her interest. And shortly thereafter, a new poll confirmed that a Senate bid may not be a very good idea.

The survey, from Republican-leaning Rasmussen Reports, finds that incumbent Republican senator Pat Roberts would lead Sebelius 54 to 37 percent in a hypothetical matchup.

Roberts’ huge lead is to be expected; Kansas is a deeply conservative state (Mitt Romney won it by over 20 percent in the 2012 presidential election), and Sebelius is now closely linked to President Obama and the Affordable Care Act, both of which Kansans overwhelmingly dislike. Although Sebelius was very popular while she served as governor, in February a Public Policy Polling survey found that Kansans disapprove of her by a 55 to 38 percent margin.

Texas
Democrats had high hopes for state Senator Wendy Davis’ 2014 gubernatorial campaign, but the latest poll of the race suggests that the rising star is on the ropes.

A Public Policy Polling survey released Tuesday found Republican attorney general Greg Abbott leading Davis 51 to 37 percent, with 13 percent undecided. That 14-point lead is essentially unchanged from PPP’s previous poll in November, which showed Abbott up 15.

Since she rocketed to political stardom by filibustering an anti-abortion bill in June, Davis has seen her popularity erode in the Lone Star State. Just 33 percent now view Davis favorably, while 47 percent view her unfavorably and 21 percent are not sure. By contrast, Abbott is viewed favorably by 40 percent, while 27 percent view him unfavorably and 33 percent are not sure.

Abbott may be benefiting from Governor Rick Perry’s improved standing. Texas’ outgoing governor now holds a 48 to 44 percent approval rating, marking the first time that PPP has ever found him with a positive rating, and an 18-point improvement from his nadir at the end of his failed 2012 presidential bid.

Photo: uacescomm via Flickr

Sebelius, On Her Way Out, Praises Health-Care Law

Sebelius, On Her Way Out, Praises Health-Care Law

By David G. Savage, Tribune Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — Outgoing Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Sunday that health insurance exchanges that are now up and running across the country have given uninsured Americans a true choice of insurance plans with price comparisons.

“People have competitive choices and real information for the first time ever in this insurance market,” Sebelius said on NBC’s Meet The Press.

Before, she said, “individuals were really on their own” if they did not have insurance through an employer or the government. “If you were healthy and wealthy, you could get coverage,” she said, but not so if you were sick or struggling economically.

Sebelius, who resigned last week, conceded that her department had botched the rollout of the insurance exchanges at the beginning of October.

“If I had a magic wand, I’d go back to mid-September” and ask more probing questions, she said. “I thought I was getting the best information from the best experts,” but their confident prediction that the system was ready to go “was just flat-out wrong,” she said.

She described the following eight weeks as “a pretty dismal time” and the low point of her tenure as HHS chief. However, the computer glitches that plagued the program’s launch were subsequently resolved for the most part and enrollment numbers were up by December.

Sebelius said she decided early this year that the completion of the first open-enrollment cycle for the program was the best time for her to step down. She said she did not want to stay in the job until January 2017, when President Barack Obama’s second term will end, so the best option was to “leave with enough time that he would get a strong, competent leader” to head the department.

Obama last week nominated his White House budget director, Sylvia Mathews Burwell, to replace Sebelius.

AFP Photo/Karen Bleier

Obama Nominates New Health Secretary

Obama Nominates New Health Secretary

Washington (AFP) – President Barack Obama on Friday nominated budget director Sylvia Mathews Burwell as his new health secretary, seeking to capitalize on an enrollment surge to cement his signature health law.

Obama paid tribute to outgoing Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius saying she had pulled off a “historic accomplishment” by securing health insurance for millions of Americans for the first time.

Despite Obama’s warm endorsement, Sebelius is effectively paying the price for the chaotic rollout of Obamacare last year, which forced the administration to launch an emergency effort to fix a malfunctioning enrollment website.

The hurried triage paid off, after 7.5 million people eventually signed up through a federal exchange to the health care plan by an end-of-March deadline.

AFP Photo/ Mandel Ngan