Kaiser network.org – Feb. 12, 2009.

The Hill on Thursday examined how the “leadership void” at HHS “is affecting more than President Obama’s health reform agenda,” because the “continued lack of a secretary and of leaders at key agencies will delay the Obama administration from putting its stamp on the massive bureaucracy.” Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) withdrew his nomination for HHS secretary earlier this month because of concerns about unpaid taxes.  Click title to read more…

According to The Hill, HHS “is capable of fulfilling its day-to-day responsibilities as guardian of the nation’s public health, pharmaceuticals, foods, medical research and other areas,” however, larger efforts are delayed and complicated as many jobs within the department have yet to be filled. Although a number of Bush administration “holdovers” are currently running the agency, including acting HHS Secretary Charles Johnson, the Bush appointees “lack the clout to set new policy,” The Hill reports. In addition, although the Obama administration has appointed a “handful” of people to positions within HHS, “they also lack the clout to make big changes to departmental policy without explicit direction from the highest levels of the administration,” according to The Hill.

Meanwhile, the White House “has too full an agenda to get involved in all but the biggest items of departmental business,” including vetting and nominating a new HHS secretary, CDC director, CMS administrator and NIH director (Young, The Hill, 2/12).

Sen. McConnell Could Filibuster Nominees
In related news, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Thursday threatened to filibuster any of Obama’s executive branch nominations if they do not meet a series of “standards” for installment, according to a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Roll Call reports. In the letter, McConnell outlined eight requirements that Obama’s nominees must meet for Republicans to allow the nomination to come to the Senate floor. According to Roll Call, “The ‘standards’ laid out in the letter are fairly basic and appear to be aimed at avoiding the kind of revelations of tax problems that sank the nomination of [Daschle].”

McConnell wrote, “Prior to considering any time agreements on the floor on any nominee,” the Obama administration must ensure that an FBI background check is complete and submitted to the overseeing committee in time for review and prior to a hearing being noticed; that the Office of Government Ethics letter is complete and submitted to the committee in time for review and prior to a committee hearing; that financial disclosure statements (and tax returns for applicable committees) are complete and submitted to the committee for review prior to a hearing being noticed; that all committee questionnaires are completed and returned to the committee; that a reasonable opportunity for follow-up questions is afforded committee members, and nominees have answered, with sufficient time for review prior to a committee vote; that the nominee is willing to have committee staff interviews; that the nominee has had a hearing; that the nominee agrees to courtesy visits with lawmakers upon request; and that the nominee has committed to cooperate with the ranking member on requests for information and transparency (Stanton, Roll Call, 2/12).

Opinion Piece
Although Daschle’s nomination “seemed a truly inspired choice, … [u]ltimately, it was Daschle’s choice to follow the trend of insiders cashing in on their years of public service that did him in,” Madison Powers, a senior research scholar at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown University, writes in a CQ Politics column. Powers continues, “The tax issue was the wedge — but the final blow to his nomination was the emerging portrait of his participation in the shadowy world of consultants and advisers whose activities are ill-defined and unregulated either by the professional norms of lawyers or the legal transparency requirements of lobbyists.”

He writes, “Initially, the idea of someone from beyond Washington, a governor perhaps, seemed attractive to outside observers, and if reports are accurate, appealing to the administration, as well”; however, “Daschle’s fall from grace was a stark reminder of how much is lost by not selecting someone skilled in the legislative sausage-making process.” Powers goes on to examine the possibility of Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen (D) as Obama’s next HHS secretary nominee. According to Powers, “Critics are right to hope that Bredesen’s potential nomination will turn out to be the only dead horse around by the end of next week” (Powers, CQ Politics, 2/13).