Posted on 10/30/2013 5:25:32 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Senate Democrats on Tuesday closed ranks behind Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, declaring she should keep her job despite problems plaguing the Affordable Care Act’s insurance exchanges.
Democrats sought to deflect criticism by Republicans who have called for Sebelius’s ouster over what even Democrats acknowledge has been a botched rollout of the landmark law.
Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), the chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, praised the implementation of ObamaCare for proceeding smoothly compared to other massive federal programs.
“If you compare it to all kinds of other programs of large magnitude, it’s actually ahead of schedule, including Social Security, Medicare and a whole lot of other things,” he said.
Rockefeller said neither Sebelius nor any other high-ranking officials at Health and Human Services should be fired.
“Should any Republicans have stepped down?” he asked in reference to GOP lawmakers who have repeatedly attempted to impede the law’s implementation.
Sebelius is scheduled to testify Wednesday before the House Energy and Commerce Committee, where she faces a harsh reception.
Two centrist Democrats facing tough reelections next year pointedly declined to defend Sebelius — but they did not call for her resignation either.
“I haven’t decided. I’m not calling for it. I’ll look at it. I’ll continue to monitor it,” said Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.), one of the chamber’s most vulnerable incumbents in 2014.
“I think that’s up to the president, but people should be held accountable,” said Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska) when asked about Sebelius’s future. “The president is the executive. He should make these decisions.”
In the House, Rep. Mike McIntyre (D-N.C.), a perennial GOP target, also declined to endorse Sebelius or call for her removal.
“No comment,” McIntyre told The Hill.
Other centrist Democrats in the Senate defended the embattled health secretary.
“I think we need to quit worrying about placing blame and start worrying about getting the system to work,” said Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.).
She said it’s too early to know whether any administration officials should lose their jobs because of systematic technical problems affecting HealthCare.gov.
“I believe we need to keep all hands on deck getting this fixed. Yes, Kathleen Sebelius needs to take responsibility, but it will cause more problems, in my view, having the secretary step down at this point,” said Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), one of the GOP’s top targets in 2014.
Marilyn Tavenner, the head of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), apologized for the botched rollout during a House hearing Tuesday.
“I want to apologize to [the American people] that the website has not worked as well as it should,” she told the House Ways and Means Committee.
Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.), the committee’s chairman, complained that Sebelius had told his panel “a dozen times that the administration would be ready” for the Oct. 1 rollout date.
He said if CMS, which falls under the Department of Health and Human Services, had been more honest about the law’s problems, “many of these glitches could have been avoided.”
Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) set the tone Tuesday when he demanded on the Senate floor that Sebelius face consequences.
“Taxpayers have spent $400 million to create exchanges that, after 3 1/2 years, still don’t work,” he said. “No private sector chief executive officer would escape accountability after such a poor performance.”
His speech caught the attention of Senate Democrats, who are more inclined to ignore conservative and Tea Party critics like Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas).
“I respect Lamar Alexander. I know he’s part of the common-ground coalition,” said Landrieu. “But the Republican Party, their right-wing extremists have been undermining this effort every way, shape or form.”
Landrieu clarified that she does not view Alexander as an extremist but said any blame leveled at the law’s faulty rollout should also be directed at the GOP.
Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) praised Sebelius as “strong and smart.”
“She knows the problems, at this point, better than anyone else, and I have confidence in her,” she said.
McCaskill said lower-ranking officials who might have misrepresented the technical progress of the law’s implementation should face punishment.
“The hard thing is going to be pinpointing who’s responsible,” she said.
“I would not be opposed if someone presented to the secretary and to others who did not have great technical capability that technically that everything was perfect — that’s probably the person who should be fired.
“Somebody knew that there were huge technical problems,” McCaskill added.
Democrats expressed hoped that Jeffrey Zients, the former deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, would help smooth the law’s implementation.
“I have a lot of faith in Jeff Zients, and let’s see what they come up with,” said Sen. Charles Schumer (N.Y.), the third-ranking member of the Senate Democratic leadership.
He predicted the law’s glitches “will be forgotten rather quickly in our fast-moving world.”
Understood—but he’s going to try to bail them out of Obamacare too. He said Amnesty after the primary season (GRAHAM) is over.
I’d prefer on urinal splash-stoppers.
We should remember this the next time WE have someone say something true, yet, politically incorrect. Todd Akin. Rats always rally around their people, no matter how stupid or reprobate. We throw our people under the bus anytime the Rats tell us to.
Competence and failure have no meaning to Democrats. As others have said they want points for good intentions.
Or go to the doctor.
It's like the airplane that pushes away from the jetway right on time, but then sits on the tarmac because there's 500 million planes waiting to take off before yours.
she will be 0’s fall person, to call her a woman is an insult to real women. Ditto goes for the 1st clothes horse.
Actually, I hope they keep her in charge of it. Judging by her track record, she’ll just screw it up more, and that’s a good thing. She needs to keep it screwed up until the Thug-In-Chief’s term of office is finished, and then maybe his successor can be induced to to scrap it, since Soetero’s massive ego will no longer be a factor.
I agree. We need to stop letting them hold us to standards which they sneer at and ignore when it’s one of their own. “Macaca”?
translation: Confirmation hearings for her replacement would be an absolute bloodbath.
I say keep the whole pack of incompetents. We don’t want them to get fired, we want them to fail MISERABLY.
We should keep our mouths shut and just sit back and watch them sink their own ship.
They are nuts.
Rockerfeller gets the prize for "non sequitur" of the year.
I also caught that on the radio this morning on my drive to work (but you couldn't pay me to listen to NPR!).
5% of ~ 300M Americans would be 15M without insurance ... which is pretty much the number of uninsured BEFORE Obamacare was foisted upon us! (if you deduct the illegals and those who could afford insurance but chose to not carry it)
“Print her face on cereal boxes, milk cartons and manhole covers.”
I was thinking of urinal cakes, but the others will do.
“It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions that by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong.”- Thomas Sowell
Nice try, Chuckie. I'd rather liken Obamacare's problems to a person with a sore foot....they're reminded EVERY step they take.
Duly stolen for an updated tag line! ;-P
We peasants don't understand how the world works. Smart politicians like Landrieu do.
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