Kathleen Sebelius at HHS | 04/29/2009 8:20 am
Kathleen Sebelius Jumps Head-First Into HHS Job With Swine Flu Crisis
© AP
Kathleen Sebelius hit the ground running after being sworn in as the Health and Human Services Secretary Tuesday.
The Senate confirmed Sebelius by a vote of 65-31. Two independents and nine Republicans joined the 54 Democrats voting for her confirmation; three senators didn’t vote at all. The former Kansas governor had some loose ends to tie up before heading to Washington to get a grip on what could be a global pandemic. She first had to swear in her replacement in Topeka — Lt. Governor Mark Parkinson.
Soon after that, she got in a plane to Washington and was briefed in the White House situation room about the flu outbreak. President Obama was "thrilled" to have her on board — and who can blame him amid a health crisis? He needs some help at the top managing the U.S. response!
"We wanted to swear her in right away because we’ve got a lot of health challenges," Obama said. "We need all hands on deck. I expect her to hit the ground running. She is the right person at the right time for the job."
Some Republicans blasted Sebelius’ support for abortion rights and her ties to Wichita abortion doctor George Tiller. Senator Tom Coburn, R-OK, called Sebelius’s record on the issue "a fatal character flaw that should have disqualified her" from the HHS job, according to The Washington Post. Senator Jim Bunning, R-KY, said he could not support someone for the HHS post "who does not respect human life."
Even though they were chastised by anti-abortion groups for supporting their home-state nominee, Republican Senators Pat Roberts and Sam Brownback both gave Sebelius the thumbs up. Brownback is a die-hard abortion opponent, too, and there were reports he was wavering on his vote as late as yesterday.
"There is a long tradition of bipartisanship in the Senate of supporting nominations from the same state regardless of party," Brownback said after the vote, adding that it’s important to push Sebelius, 60, through so she can tackle the swine flu crisis. "It’s well known that Governor Sebelius and I fundamentally disagree on several issues, and most notably on the issues of life. However, we can work together for the people of Kansas."
Perhaps his run for governor next year has something to do with his vote.
Read more about: Abortion, Barack Obama, Cabinet, Confirmation, George Tiller, Health and Human Services Secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, News, Obama Administration, Sam Brownback, senate, Swine Flu, U.S.
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21 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment
What a crazy, mixed-up, comic book nation this has turned into when Senators hold up a nomination for months over a religious litmus test and keep us all from having a Health Chief until the alarm goes out that we may have a world pandemic on our hands. Wow! Then they are ready to scurry and dump it on a woman and hope if anything goes wrong, she’ll get all the blame!
It stinks! But at least she is in there at last! My warmest good wishes go out to her.
Again, you liberals kill me.
This woman is an embarressment to all of humanity. Her support for the murder of babies, who are about to be born is beyond the pale. It’s sub-human.
But, this is what one comes to expect from "progressives".
However, forget that for a second. There were more valid reasons to keep this "woman" out of DC. For one, she’s a tax cheat. Of course, so is every other cabinet member. But at some point one would think Obama would have reached his quote of crooks and liars in his administration.
This of course offends the hell out of me, because that idiot Joe Biden, on more than one occasion talked down to conservatives, who understand that tax cuts will stimulate the economy far better than anything these losers are pulling off.
In fact, Joe Biden went out of his way to say that paying taxes is patriotic. well, if that is true, Obama has THE most unpatriotic cabinet ever formed in America!
Past that, she lied under oath to the Senate confirmation committee, when asked about campaign contributions.
She later "revised" her testimony saying that she had, indeed, accepted campaign money from Geroge Tiller, a vile Hitler/Mengele clone who for a price, murders innocent babies on demand.
But again, she lied, under reporting the amount. She actually recieved 10 TIMES the amount she claimed!
This is not inconsequential.
Tiller The Baby Killer has amassed a fortune as a serial killer. Big money.
Sebelius just vetoed a bill that would have outlawed his barbaric practice. Those campaign donations were a payoff, a bribe, for her veto.
This woman is a typical crooked democrat.
The fact that she is a sub-human, that is in favor of murdering innocent babies for no good reason is just the clincher.
Using the reasoning that Sebelius HAD to be confirmed in order to deal with the swine flu crisis, is smoke and mirrors. Homeland Security head Janet Napolitano was doing just fine. At least her updates made a lot more sense than anything press secy Gates says.
No, this was using a minor epidemic to push and get BO’s choice. As with all his other choices, it is a flawed one.
Abortion and late term abortion bills under this administration and this ‘woman’ will degenerate into a search for the perfect master race.
Remember, always look at the OTHER hand and follow the money, to see just what is happening.
Of course Obama was "thrilled" to have her on board. Sebelius shares his radical view of abortion — that it is perfectly fine for a child to be killed in the womb at any time, even a full-term infant. She has received tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from George Tiller, the most notorious late-term abortionist in America.
Partial birth abortion is a gruesome procedure in which the living baby is deliver halfway, feet first. Then the abortionist uses surgical scissors to pucture a hole at the base of the baby’s skull in order to suction out the brains and allow for an easier "delivery." A few more seconds and the baby would have been born alive, taking his first breaths. Tell me, pro-choicers, can you really claim this is not infanticide?
That is the practice condoned by Sebelius. Just last week, she vetoed a state bill that would have put more restrictions on late-term abortion providers like George Tiller.
http://www.kansascity.com/105/story/1159476.html
Sebelius has no respect for life — which is why I opposed her appointment as HHS secretary.
Sebelius was not the person for this position. Her under-reporting issuess (not truthful), her pro-abortion issues, her pro late term abortion position (murder) are not good enough to represent me or anyone I know, let alone my country. I suppose we can now begin calling her Secretary Death.