White House Senior Adviser David Axelrod defended the recess appointment of Donald Berwick to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, saying it was a necessary move to fill a key position in the healthcare system.
Rationer-In-Chief
"We have 140 or more appointees still waiting for confirmation for months and months and months, even on nominess that the Republicans ended up voting for," Axelrod said on "Fox News Sunday."
"why bother with the constitutional responsibility of submitting for approval? We won"
| Having nominees wait for months and months was never a problem when Dubya was president ... |
"It is very, very clear that this nomination was going to be one that was going to be dragged on and on and on," Axelrod said, adding that it was "vital" to fill the position and "move forward."
"and that's why we didn't submit his nomination, even though Democrats control both houses."
| Berwick also has certain financial issues that would have come up in confirmation hearings ... |
| He's coming to implement the Cuban system ... |
"He is not the right man for the job," Kyl said. "Had his nomination come up during the healthcare debate, can you imagine the hue and cry that would have occurred?"
fortunately he's out on his ass in January with the new Congress. Hopefully he won't do too much socialist damage before then.