President-Elect Obama To Nominate Anti-Smoking Advocate William Corr For HHS Deputy Secretary

Main Category: Health Insurance / Medical Insurance
Also Included In: Smoking / Quit Smoking;  Public Health
Article Date: 14 Jan 2009 - 3:00 PDT

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President-elect Barack Obama on Tuesday announced the nomination of William Corr, executive director of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, as deputy secretary of HHS, the New York Times reports. The nomination requires Senate confirmation.

Corr, who has led a team assembled by Obama to review and evaluate HHS, previously served as chief of staff to then-HHS Secretary Donna Shalala. In addition, he previously served as chief counsel and policy director for then-Senate Majority Leader and HHS Secretary-designate Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), and as a staffer to then-House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee Chair Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), currently chair of the full committee. Corr also previously worked as a registered lobbyist for FDA and CDC, among other governmental entities, as well as at several community primary care centers in Appalachia (Pear, New York Times, 1/13).

According to Obama, Corr has the "depth of experience and commitment" to address health care reform (Frates, The Politico, 1/13). Obama said, "Under the leadership of Tom Daschle and Bill Corr, I am confident that my Department of Health and Human Services will bring people together to reach consensus on how to move forward with health care reform," adding, "I look forward to working with them in the days ahead" (Freking, AP/Austin American-Statesman, 1/13).

In related news, Linda Douglass -- a former ABC News correspondent, an Obama spokesperson and press secretary for the Presidential Inaugural Committee -- likely will become assistant secretary for public affairs at HHS, the Washington Post reports. Jenny Backus, a Democratic media strategist who has worked for Daschle during the transition, likely will receive the top communications and strategy position at HHS, according to the Post (Kamen, Washington Post, 1/13).

Editorial
"A rousing confirmation battle can be fun to watch -- as, no doubt, some found the proceedings in the Colosseum -- but that really shouldn't be the point," as confirmation hearings "offer an opportunity for nominees to lay out, to the extent possible, their views about the policy and managerial challenges they will confront and for lawmakers to lay down markers on issues that matter to them," a Post editorial states.

However, the "process did not start well last week" with a hearing for Daschle held by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, according to the editorial. The hearing "was more lovefest than serious discussion of complex policy issues," although committee ranking member Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) "secured Mr. Daschle's pledge to try to use the regular legislative process to accomplish health care reform rather than short-circuiting normal Senate rules by folding the measure into what's known as 'reconciliation.'"

The editorial concludes, "Except in extraordinary cases, a president is entitled to the Cabinet secretaries of his choice," but "the Senate is entitled -- in fact, it is obligated -- to ask probing questions and to expect, to the maximum possible extent, answers that go beyond, 'I'll get back to you on that'" (Washington Post, 1/13).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.

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