GOP Senators Urge President to Pull Berwick Nomination as CMS Chief

WASHINGTON — In a letter to President Barack Obama sent
yesterday, 42 Senate Republicans asked him to withdraw the
nomination of Donald Berwick to lead the Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid Services.

Spearheaded by Sens. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, ranking member of the
Senate Finance Committee, and Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., ranking member of
the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, the
letter said Obama’s recess appointment of Berwick last year was
completed before a hearing could be held, short-circuiting the
Senate’s ability to consider his nomination in the 111th
Congress.

According to the letter, “This abrupt and unilateral action
meant that no Senator — Democrat or Republican — was
given the opportunity to ask Dr. Berwick a single question before
he was placed in charge of an agency with a budget larger than the
Department of Defense, which controls 4 percent of our nation’s
gross domestic product (GDP), and, most importantly, directly
impacts more than 100 million American lives every single day.”

Obama first nominated the Harvard professor and pediatrician for
the CMS post in April 2010. But when Republicans threatened to
stall his confirmation saying Berwick’s past statements showed
support for health care rationing, the president used a
recess appointment to put him in the job last summer.

Under recess appointment rules, Berwick can remain as
administrator of the massive agency only until the end of 2011
unless he can be confirmed. The president renominated Berwick
in January when the 112th Congress began.

“You repeatedly pledged, both as a candidate and as President
that you would usher in a new era of transparency in our
government. However, the process used in the enactment of the
health care law, combined with the end-run around Congress with the
recess appointment of Dr. Berwick, both contradict your pledge,”
the senators wrote.

They added, “Once you have withdrawn his nomination, we are
confident we can all work together to find a nominee for
Administrator we can support and confirm after appropriate hearings
are held.”

Five GOP senators — Scott Brown of Massachusetts, Susan
Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and
Rob Portman of Ohio — did not sign the letter. Republicans
would need 41 votes to block Berwick’s confirmation by the full
Senate.

In response to the letter, a White House spokesman told The
Associated Press that Berwick is “far and away the best person
for the job.”

Read the full text of the senators’ letter.