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10
February 2017
 |
| Health Secretary (The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions) |
President Donald Trump's new health secretary
is set to take his post after becoming the latest Cabinet nominee to eke out a
confirmation victory in the bitterly divided Senate. The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions
Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., was scheduled to take
his oath of office at the White House Friday, just hours after the Senate
confirmed him 52-47 in a party-line vote. That roll call came in the dead of
night, thanks to Democrats' tactic of forcing prolonged debates to broadcast
their opposition to Trump and his team.
The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions
As head of the Health and Human Services
Department, Price will take center stage as the administration and
congressional Republicans try delivering on their pledge to scrap President
Barack Obama's health care law substitute their own programs. After years of
trying, they finally command both the White House and Congress but have so far
struggled to craft a plan with enough votes to win approval. The Total Investment & Insurance
Solutions
Price, a seven-term House member and
orthopedic surgeon, is likely to play a lead role both in shaping health care
legislation and issuing department regulations aimed at weakening Obama's
statute.
"Having Dr. Tom Price at the helm of HHS
gives us a committed ally in our work to repeal and replace Obamacare,"
House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said Friday. The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions
Democrats focused on the legislation Price
sponsored during a seven-term House career, including efforts to kill Obama's
law. He's also sought to reshape Medicare's guarantee of health coverage for
seniors into a voucher-like program, cut Medicaid, which helps poor people
afford care, and halt federal payments to Planned Parenthood because it
provides abortions.
Sen Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., conceded that
Price had experience but added, "It's the kind of experience that should
horrify you." The Total Investment
& Insurance Solutions
That battle won, Republicans were preparing
to next win Senate confirmation for financier Steven Mnuchin to be Treasury
secretary. He was expected to get the chamber's approval Monday, along with
Trump's choice to head the Department of Veterans Affairs, physician David
Shulkin.
Republicans have lauded Mnuchin's long career
in the finance and banking worlds.
As they did with Price, Democrats are
attacking Mnuchin's background, such as criticizing OneWest bank, which he led,
for not protecting thousands of homeowners from unnecessary foreclosures. They
also said he failed to disclose nearly $100 million in assets on forms he filed
with the Senate. The Total Investment
& Insurance Solutions
Price's nomination is part of a
larger clash in which Republicans want to quickly enact priorities long blocked
by Obama. Democrats, with few tools as Congress' minority, are making a show of
resistance, stretching some floor debates to the maximum 30 hours Senate rules
allow. The Total Investment &
Insurance Solutions
The high stakes plus Trump's belligerent
style have fed the combativeness. They've also produced remarkable scenes, including
Democratic boycotts of hearings, Republicans suspending committee rules to
approve nominees and GOP senators voting to bar Warren from joining one debate. The Total Investment & Insurance
Solutions
Democrats have accused Price of lying about
his acquisition of discounted shares of an Australian biotech company and
benefiting from insider information. They've also asserted he pushed
legislation to help a medical implant maker whose stock he'd purchased. The Total Investment & Insurance
Solutions
Price has said he's done nothing wrong. It's
illegal for members of Congress to engage in insider trading.
His close confirmation was the fourth
consecutive Senate clash over a Cabinet nominee that closely followed party
lines.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions was confirmed
52-47, after Warren was punished for reading a 1986 letter by Coretta Scott
King criticizing him. Betsy DeVos became Education secretary by 51-50, thanks
to a tie-breaking vote by Vice President Mike Pence.
And Former Exxon-Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson
became secretary of state by 56-43.
Those close tallies are a departure from most
Cabinet votes, in which the Senate usually grants overwhelming approval in a
show of deference to letting presidents choose their teams. The Total Investment & Insurance
Solutions
Just four of 31 votes for then-President
Barack Obama's Cabinet vacancies drew at least 40 "no" votes, as did
only two of 34 votes for Cabinet positions under President George W. Bush.
During that period, the closest tally for
health secretary before Price was the 65-31 roll call for Obama's 2009 pick,
Kathleen Sibelius. The Total Investment
& Insurance Solutions
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