NEW YORK—More personnel details of the upcoming Obama administration emerged Wednesday when sources close to the transition revealed that Tom Daschle would be named Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), while Obama’s campaign strategist David Axelrod will remain in Obama’s close circle as a senior adviser.
Neither pick came of tremendous surprise, however, due to the close alignment of ideology between the two and Obama. Daschle is a strong advocate of expanding health care coverage to millions of Americans, a plan Obama has called a top priority. Axelrod was one of Obama’s closest advisers during the campaign and is widely recognized as one of the chief architects of Obama’s landslide win over Republican Sen. John McCain on Election Day.
Daschle, who will succeed Mike Leavitt as HHS Secretary, was a former Senator from South Dakota and Senate Majority Leader. After being ousted out of his Senate seat in 2004, Daschle has been a senior policy adviser at Washington law firm Alston & Bird.
After rebuffing speculation of a potential presidential run in 2006, Daschle backed Obama’s bid and became one of the campaign’s national co-chairs. Before Obama was elected, Daschle told the magazine National Review that he could potentially “be helpful, perhaps in a prospective Obama administration, on health care reform” and that he would be “interested in finding ways to do that.”
Daschle has an extensive knowledge of America’s health care system and wrote a book this year titled “Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis.” He proposed a federal board to “create a public framework for a largely private health-care delivery system.”
Fellow lawmakers and health care advocates alike praised Obama’s appointment of Daschle, which has not been formally announced.
Senate Democrat and Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus called Daschle “an excellent choice” and said bluntly, “he knows health care.” Ron Pollack, executive director of health care reform advocacy group Families USA, said that “Senator Daschle has a deep commitment to securing high-quality, affordable health care for everyone in our nation.
“His new leadership position confirms that the incoming Obama administration has made health care reform a top and early priority for action in 2009,” he said.
Daschle, as the country’s top health official, is expected to make a hard push for health care reform. A $2 trillion industry, the national health care system encompasses about one-sixth of the U.S.’s economy, and includes Medicaid and Medicare, two government-run health care programs that are facing deep deficits. Almost 50 million Americans currently don’t have health insurance.
Daschle will also be in charge of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), an agency that has been burdened with the import of Chinese dairy goods with melamine. The FDA has been slow to react to the scandal, only recently embargoing Chinese dairy goods and opening its first office in China.
Neither pick came of tremendous surprise, however, due to the close alignment of ideology between the two and Obama. Daschle is a strong advocate of expanding health care coverage to millions of Americans, a plan Obama has called a top priority. Axelrod was one of Obama’s closest advisers during the campaign and is widely recognized as one of the chief architects of Obama’s landslide win over Republican Sen. John McCain on Election Day.
Daschle, who will succeed Mike Leavitt as HHS Secretary, was a former Senator from South Dakota and Senate Majority Leader. After being ousted out of his Senate seat in 2004, Daschle has been a senior policy adviser at Washington law firm Alston & Bird.
After rebuffing speculation of a potential presidential run in 2006, Daschle backed Obama’s bid and became one of the campaign’s national co-chairs. Before Obama was elected, Daschle told the magazine National Review that he could potentially “be helpful, perhaps in a prospective Obama administration, on health care reform” and that he would be “interested in finding ways to do that.”
Daschle has an extensive knowledge of America’s health care system and wrote a book this year titled “Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis.” He proposed a federal board to “create a public framework for a largely private health-care delivery system.”
Fellow lawmakers and health care advocates alike praised Obama’s appointment of Daschle, which has not been formally announced.
Senate Democrat and Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus called Daschle “an excellent choice” and said bluntly, “he knows health care.” Ron Pollack, executive director of health care reform advocacy group Families USA, said that “Senator Daschle has a deep commitment to securing high-quality, affordable health care for everyone in our nation.
“His new leadership position confirms that the incoming Obama administration has made health care reform a top and early priority for action in 2009,” he said.
Daschle, as the country’s top health official, is expected to make a hard push for health care reform. A $2 trillion industry, the national health care system encompasses about one-sixth of the U.S.’s economy, and includes Medicaid and Medicare, two government-run health care programs that are facing deep deficits. Almost 50 million Americans currently don’t have health insurance.
Daschle will also be in charge of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), an agency that has been burdened with the import of Chinese dairy goods with melamine. The FDA has been slow to react to the scandal, only recently embargoing Chinese dairy goods and opening its first office in China.
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