Medicare chief Don Berwick steps down in standoff with GOP senators over his confirmation

[alp227]

Source: AP

The point man for carrying out President Barack Obama’s health care law will be stepping down after Republicans succeeded in blocking his confirmation by the Senate, an official said Wednesday.

Medicare chief Don Berwick, a Harvard professor widely respected for his ideas on how to improve the health care system, became the most prominent casualty of the political wars over a health care overhaul law whose constitutionality will be now decided by the Supreme Court.

Berwick’s Dec. 2 resignation was confirmed by a senior congressional official, speaking on condition of anonymity ahead of an announcement by the administration. He will be replaced by his principal deputy, Marilyn Tavenner, formerly Virginia’s top health care official.

Forty-two GOP senators — more than enough to derail Berwick’s confirmation — had announced their opposition to his nomination months ago. That started a countdown on his temporary appointment, scheduled to run out at the end of the year.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/health-care/medicare-chief-don-berwick-steps-down-in-standoff-with-gop-senators-over-his-confirmation/2011/11/23/gIQAoOThoN_story.html

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PBS NewsHour profile of Berwick from August: ""

[VWolf]

1. Party of No, indeed. n/t

[SemperEadem]

2. sounds like a recess appointment needs to be made.

[Wilmer]

3. ...a recess appointment needs to be made

Yes, and we can take comfort in President Obama's rich record of standing up to the opposition and making courageous recess appointments whenever someone needs to be....

Oh -- wait a minute: Never mind.

[alp227]

4. actually, last time there was a recess, Cantor and Republicans just called quorums

just went to the House and sat around for several hours in order to block recess appointments.

[xocet]

6. Here is an article on the Republicans blocking recess appointments:

www.propublica.org/blog/item/while-on-summer-recess-congress-blocks-recess-appointments

[banned from Kos]

11. Berwick WAS a recess appointment n/t

this is a huge blow.

[SemperEadem]

12. oh dag, I forgot to add the sarcasm

I forgot that a map needs to be drawn sometimes. :eyes:

[jaxx]

5. Will the Senate be able to recess this time?

So far the House has demanded they stay in session, and that is why there have been no recess appointments.

[Yo_Mama]

14. Berwick was a recess appointment n/t

[Philosopher King]

7. earning a reputation as a problem solver with years of real-world experience and an extensive..."

extensive network of industry contacts.

I must be missing something. It seems to me that this woman is a perfect example of the type of people we need to make our government run more efficiently (real world, as opposed to bureaucratic experience).

[karynnj]

8. That is a real loss - he was doing an excellent job - just what the Republicans are afraid of nt

[libinnyandia]

9. If it were to happen that the gop takes over in 2013, the

Democrats should remember and make sure that right wing wackos don't get appointed to anything. Don't play nice.

[radhika]

10. If they didn't know that in 2009, they won't get it in 2012 n/t

[Loge23]

13. The Enemy has spoken

The only perplexing thing about all of this is why the Republican party still exists in the former USA.
They destroyed the country. They offer absolutely no constructive change. Many are veiled racists, homophobes, right-wing extremists (like a certain party in 1930's Germany). They are anti-intellectual, anti-social, anti-everything. Everyday, another outrage. Closer we are to either one of two extremes: the end of the right-wing influence in the former USA, or the beginning of the official Fascist States of America.

[animato]

15. Yes indeed

My head is sore from scratching