Jan 8, 2009 1:30 pm US/Central
Daschle Gets Hearing Over Obama Health Care Nod
WASHINGTON (AP) ―
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Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle testifies during his Senate Confirmation hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on Capitol Hill on Jan. 8, 2009, in Washington, D.C.
Mark Wilson/Getty Images
Tom Daschle promised former Senate colleagues on Thursday that as health secretary he would learn from Bill Clinton's failed attempt to overhaul health care, an effort criticized as too long, secretive and hard to understand.
"These are good arguments for undertaking reform in a way that is aggressive, open and responsive to Americans' concerns," President-elect Barack Obama's nominee to head the Health and Human Services Department said at a hearing. "They are not good arguments for ignoring the problem."
Daschle, the ex-Senate Democratic leader from South Dakota, kicked off the Senate's hearings on Obama's Cabinet nominees. It was friendly territory as lawmakers he once served with offered praise but few tough questions for what will be a difficult and expensive assignment.
The Senates Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee summoned Daschle, although the Senate Finance Committee actually will vote on the nomination. Most analysts expect Daschle will have little problem winning confirmation as HHS secretary.
He described the U.S. health care system as expensive, mediocre and too often unavailable to those in need. Another former Senate majority leader, Republican Bob Dole of Kansas, introduced Daschle at the hearing. Dole said Daschle had a strong understanding of health care and knew how to get things done.
"If anyone understands Congress, it's Tom Daschle," Dole said.
Daschle promised lawmakers they would be partners in whatever plans came develop to improve the system.
"President-elect Barack Obama recognizes that may of you have been working for many years on these issues, and that any effort at reform will require close collaboration with Congress," Daschle said.
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, the committee chairman, began the hearing with the first of several warm welcomes for Daschle. "Reform is urgently needed and Tom Daschle is just the person for the job," said Kennedy, D-Mass.
In the coming months, Kennedy's committee is expected to help craft legislation to expand health insurance coverage. Lawmakers were eager to get Daschle's perspective.
Daschle has made it clear in the past year that he believes Congress needs to move fast on health legislation. Kennedy thinks so, too. His staff has spent recent months meeting with trade and interest groups that have much at stake in the issue.
Obama has put Daschle in line for two prime jobs: health secretary and director of a new White House office on health reform. In previous administrations, the White House and not the Cabinet agency has led attempts to expand coverage.
Former President Clinton pushed a universal health care plan, developed at the White House under first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, but it failed to gain congressional approval and helped Republicans win control of the Senate and House in 1994.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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