Senate Votes To Confirm Burwell as Next HHS Secretary
On Thursday, the Senate voted 78-17 to confirm Sylvia Mathews Burwell as the next HHS secretary, the New York Times reports (Pear, New York Times, 6/5).
In April, President Obama nominated Burwell -- who was serving as director of the White House Office of Management and Budget -- after HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced her resignation (California Healthline, 4/11).
In Thursday's vote, 52 Democrats, 24 Republicans and two independents voted in favor of Burwell's confirmation (New York Times, 6/5).
According to the Los Angeles Times, 17 Republicans who opposed Burwell's nomination had cited her support for the Affordable Care Act for their final votes (Levey, Los Angeles Times, 6/5).
Burwell is scheduled to take over from Sebelius after she is sworn in on Monday, according to an HHS aide, the Washington Post reports (Goldstein, Washington Post, 6/5).
Comments
In remarks on the Senate floor Thursday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) -- who voted against confirmation -- said that Burwell is a "smart and skilled public servant, but her embrace of Obamacare calls her policy judgment into question" (Los Angeles Times, 6/5).
Obama in a statement said he "applaud[s] the strong, bipartisan majority of senators who today confirmed [Burwell] as America's next secretary of [HHS]," adding that she is "a proven manager who knows how to deliver results, and over her career she has built deep relationships with Democrats and Republicans alike" (Kennedy, USA Today, 6/5).
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