By Mark Sherman
ASSOCIATED PRESS
3:31 p.m. March 8, 2004
WASHINGTON – Mark McClellan, President Bush's choice to run Medicare, said Monday he won't answer senators' questions about his opposition to importing prescription drugs from Canada before he takes over the government health program.
Republican leaders in the Senate want to vote to confirm McClellan by the end of the week, as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services tries to put in place the Medicare overhaul that Bush signed last year.
However, McClellan's rejection of the request from Republican John McCain of Arizona and Democrats Byron Dorgan of North Dakota and Debbie Stabenow of Michigan sets up the prospect that they will use Senate procedures to drag out the confirmation.
McClellan, at a hearing on his nomination at the Senate Finance Committee, said he would answer the senators' questions "as soon as this confirmation process is concluded."
The senators want him to appear before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, which McCain leads and where he could expect more aggressive questioning than he received Monday.
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http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/20040308-1531-medicarechief.html