[Ip-health] New US Administration: Tom Daschle Secretary of Health and Human Services

[Judit Rius Sanjuan]

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1131ap_obama_health_daschle.html
Last updated November 19, 2008 3:17 p.m. PT
Dem officials: Daschle accepts HHS Cabinet post

By KEVIN FREKING
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

WASHINGTON -- Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle has accepted
President-elect Barack Obama's offer to be Secretary of Health and
Human Services, Democratic officials said Wednesday. The appointment
has not been announced, but these officials said the job is Daschle's,
barring an unforeseen problem as Obama's team reviews the background
of the South Dakota Democrat.

One area of review will include the lobbying connections of his wife,
Linda Hall Daschle, who has lobbied mostly on behalf of airline-
related companies over the years. The officials spoke on condition of
anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the matter
publicly.

Daschle was a close adviser to Obama throughout the former Illinois
senator's White House campaign. He recently wrote a book on his
proposals to improve health care, and he is working with former Senate
leaders on recommendations to improve the system.

Organizations seeking to expand health coverage were quick to praise
the selection.

"Sen. Daschle has a deep commitment to securing high-quality,
affordable health care for everyone in our nation," said Ron Pollack,
executive director of Families USA. "His new leadership position
confirms that the incoming Obama administration has made health care
reform a top and early priority for action in 2009."

After losing re-election to the Senate in 2004, Daschle became a
public policy adviser and member of the legislative and public policy
group at the law and lobbying firm Alston & Bird. Daschle isn't
registered as a lobbyist. He advises clients on issues including
health care, financial services and taxes and trade, according to the
firm Web site.

Health care interests, including CVS Caremark, the National
Association for Home Care and Hospice, Abbott Laboratories and
HealthSouth, are among the firm's lobbying clients.

His wife was acting administrator of the Federal Aviation
Administration in the Clinton administration. She is one of
Washington's top lobbyists. Her lobbying clients over the past year
included American Airlines, Lockheed Martin and Boeing, Senate
lobbying records show.

Daschle is a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, a
liberal think-tank run by top Obama transition adviser and former
Clinton White House chief of staff John Podesta. According to his
biography for the think tank, Daschle serves on the advisory boards of
Intermedia Partners and the BP America Inc. external advisory council,
and on the boards of CB Richard Ellis, Mascoma Corp., Prime
BioSolutions, The Freedom Forum, the Mayo Clinic, the Center for
American Progress, the LBJ Foundation, and the National Democratic
Institute for International Affairs. He is also a member of the
Council on Foreign Relations.

Daschle's strong Capitol Hill ties and knowledge of how HHS works mean
"it is a perfect appointment," said former Republican Congressman John
Porter, who chairs the medical research advocacy group Research!
America. "He'll do an outstanding job."

Besides health reform, the next HHS secretary will deal with the
growing budgetary woes of some of the nation's critical health agencies.

One example: Years of funding that didn't keep up with inflation means
the National Institutes of Health has lost 14 percent of its buying
power, said Dr. Harold Varmus, NIH's former director and a science
adviser to Obama's campaign. That has left promising disease research
without money to move forward.

Obama also announced several transition working group leaders,
including Daschle, who will oversee the health policy working group.
They include former Environmental Protection Agency administrator
Carol Browner on energy and environment and former Clinton White House
adviser Jim Steinberg and Obama campaign senior foreign policy adviser
Susan Rice on national security.

Associated Press writers Sharon Theimer and Lauran Neergaard
contributed to this report.

Judit Rius Sanjuan
Attorney
Knowledge Ecology International / Essential Information
www.keionline.org / www.cptech.org
Phone: +1.212.763.5720 (Only for October/November 2008)