President Barack Obama “sent the Senate his nomination of Donald Berwick as administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Monday — a move that comes two weeks after Obama bypassed Congress to put his stalled nominee in the post until the end of 2011,” Roll Call reports.
Obama’s effort to clear Berwick through the Senate on top of his recess appointment would grant his nominee the job indefinitely, as he would serve at “the pleasure of the president,” according to a White House aide.
The president originally nominated Berwick to the CMS post in April, but Republicans blocked the effort and have tied the nomination to their criticism of the health care overhaul. Obama broke the logjam earlier this month by using a recess appointment to install Berwick in the post, a tactic that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said illustrated the president’s attempt to “arrogantly circumvent the American people.”
Republicans, among other things, argue that Democrats never set a confirmation hearing for Dr. Berwick.
(credit image – six sigma training)
Congress in Your Pocket
S E N A T U S 
The Republicans don’t “argue” that Democrats didn’t set a hearing date — the Democrats DIDN’T set a hearing date. Republicans couldn’t block anything in this regard. The Democrats didn’t set a hearing date because they didn’t want Berwicks’ radical views on display leading up to the midterms. The GOP didn’t blcok anything.
No body was blocking this guy because a hearing never came up.
This will be the MOST INTERESTING debate since Nancy Pelosi introduced the Health Care Reform Bill in 2009!
THe question is what happens to his recess appointment if the Senate hears him out and then does not confirm him?
Ditto the other statements. Republicans were not blocking him- no hearing date was ever set by the Dems. His background check was not yet complete. Biased reporting- wow, who’d a thunk it?
He should not be confirmed. This man has radical views in favor of rationing health care, and has said that he loves Britian’s national health care system. The same system where 50,000 patients on the waiting lists for surgery each year become too sick to have their surgery. For them the wait was too long and they are just left to die.
The Republicans really need to work together to filibuster this nomination to death. This man would be writing the new health care rules, determining who lives and who dies.
My husband and I have a disabled child and I’m sure this man would like to cut off all her health care. May God help this country.
oh puh-leez! no country can handle skyrocketing end-of-life costs w/o going bankrupt, of course some sort of rationing must be used, as is the case in Europe and Canada. but hey anything to give you fat, diabetic right wingers 6 more months to stuff your faces and watch fox news
DB you are a treasonous commie progressive insurgent
Hey DB … Nice usage of stereotypes! You must have earned a degree from Hopey-Changey U. The reason we right-wingers don’t want people like YOU in charge of our healthcare decisions is because you’re a moron. We believe individuals should pay for their own care and suffer the consequences of their health choices. It’s actually you leftwingers who encourage people to take absolutely NO responsibility for their own healthcare costs. You claim healthcare is a RIGHT, and then in the same breath proclaim the RIGHT to ration people’s care.
I’ve got an idea for you. Move you Great Britain. Give me private healthcare and let me make my own decisions about what I’ll pay for out of my own pocket and how much value I put on my life.
you realize you are nothing but a stooge for the insurance industry, right? whats truly shocking is how you right-wing rethugs claim to be christian yet want to allow poor people to die in the street, including the children who could not be aborted because your Holy Babble forbids it.
I’ll stay in this country, thank you very much, it was right-wing idiots like u who bankrupted it in the first place!
Why do we constantly get dishonest headlines.Libtards only know how to lie,cheat,and spew their hate toward anyone who disagrees with their corrupt ways. Fact: Berwick’s hearing was never scheduled and Democrat Max Baccus was highly upset with the Obama Regime for circumventing the process with his recess appointment. He should not be approved because of his RADICAL positions on rationing healthcare….
This is just another bait and switch from “the most transparent” Administration evah!
The bottom line is that Barry Ö is trying to take the focus off of the economy, the wars, and the rising tide of voter discontent. That’s where the stupidity and hubris comes in. By the sheer force of his many mouthpieces, everything that emanates from Teh Won is deemed sacred, all the while the TOTUS and his peeps are lying through their teeth.
Placing that radical Berwick in a position to oversee that huge bureaucracy is as bad as Frank ‘n Dodd overseeing Fannie and Freddie.
The hen houses are overrun with foxes pretending to be on guard.
~(Ä)~
Nice to see so many comments from people who know the truth. Blame the GOP as always when they did absolutely nothing to block this, the dems are doing the same thing on unemployment, the GOP want to extend the benefits but they want it paid for, they asked them to use the money to fund it out of the left over stimulus money, the dems said no. I hope people see the truth come November and clean house.
DB, perhaps end of life health care wouldn’t bankrupt our country if the progressives weren’t spend my our money like a drunken sailor with someone ELSE’S money. It’s also charming how you resort to name calling and smear tactics to make you hopeless point. Grow up!
I wish that when you slam the dems for spending, you wouldn’t impugn us drunken sailors.
Thank you
Here’s my wacky theory:
O’s pushing Berwick under the bus because O just found out about his insurance-for-life benefits from his old job while pushing rationing for the rest of us. Public outrage and even more criticism about O-care. But he does not want to fire him and look even more foolish, so he’ll let the Senate do the job for him.
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