These may well be the most important hearings regarding healthcare. Mr. Daschle is an able public servant with a distinguished history in the Senate. However, he has often been an ideologue leaning far to the left on health care related issues. What is needed Mr. Daschle (and Committee Members pay attention) is focus on what is doable and accomplishable, not some socialist vision of nationalized health care. A free market, linked with MEANINGFUL regulation, particularly of insurers, is the best way to approach our REAL health care issues and usher in a decade of REAL HEALTH REFORM . . . jomaxx
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee held a hearing January 8 on the nomination of former Senate Majority Leader Thomas Daschle (D-SD) to serve as Secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services. Members of the HELP committee, which is expected to develop health care legislation in the coming months, focused their queries on the role of the Obama administration in health care reform. Several committee members expressed concerns about shortages of health professionals in their communities, and Mr. Daschle agreed that these shortfalls must be addressed as part of the overall health care reform effort. The Senate Finance Committee also intends to hold its own hearing on Mr. Daschle’s nomination and will have final say on whether to advance it to the Senate floor.
COMMITTEE MEMBERS
Democrats by Rank
Edward Kennedy (MA)
Christopher Dodd (CT)
Tom Harkin (IA)
Barbara A. Mikulski (MD)
Jeff Bingaman (NM)
Patty Murray (WA)
Jack Reed (RI)
Hillary Rodham Clinton(NY)
Barack Obama (IL)
Bernard Sanders (I) (VT)
Sherrod Brown (OH)
Republicans by Rank
Michael B. Enzi (WY)
Judd Gregg (NH)
Lamar Alexander (TN)
Richard Burr (NC)
Johnny Isakson (GA)
Lisa Murkowski (AK)
Orrin G. Hatch (UT)
Pat Roberts (KS)
Wayne Allard (CO)
Tom Coburn, M.D. (OK)
For more information about the HELP committee hearing, visit http://help.senate.gov/Hearings/2009_01_08/2009_01_08.html.
Wow, who know how prophetic this post would be!
Mr. Daschle is going to change the health care system, but somehow can’t figure out how to pay over $120,000 in federal income taxes . . . then files his amended returns, and pays his tax and interest just before his hearings . . . give us a break. He should be disqualified from the get-go and is an embarrassment to Mr. Obama and his calls for real change. Real Health Reform cannot come from someone like Mr. Daschle who is an ideologue and does not see the real issues that need to be addressed.