Sebelius clears HHS confirmation hurdle

The Senate Finance Committee voted to send the nomination of Kathleen Sebelius as health and human services secretary to the full Senate.

The nomination process for Sebelius, the Kansas governor whom President Barack Obama chose in February, has hit some snags over her stance on abortion rights and tax troubles.

According to an Associated Press report:

The committee vote came after several Republicans voiced concerns in recent days about Sebelius' ties to Dr. George Tiller, a late-term abortion doctor who is under investigation by the Kansas medical board.

The GOP also questioned her commitment to ensuring that the government doesn't try to interfere with the doctor-patient relationship.

"I believe in the right of every American to choose the doctor, the hospital, the health plan of his or her choice," Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., said before the vote. But he contended that Sebelius had displayed "insufficient commitment to these principles."

Sebelius had offered assurances that she believed it was the job of doctors, not the government, to prescribe care. That wasn't enough for some GOP lawmakers worried that the Obama administration's plans to overhaul the nation's costly health care system could move the country toward a government-operated health care system.

Sebelius is the White House's second pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. Former Sen. Tom Daschle withdrew his name in February after tax issues arose.

Senator asks Obama to change leadership at CPSC

Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida sent a letter to the White House yesterday asking to president to change the leadership of the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

After writing that he'd already discussed the matter with White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, Nelson's letter identifies his main issue with the CPSC's current approach:

I believe we have a serious problem with the CPSC. More specifically, the agency is doing too little, too late to help residents of Florida and other states who are reporting serious health and safety problems associated with living in homes built with tainted drywall imported from China.

The CPSC has the power to ban future imports or issua a recall on defective or hazardous products. But the commission hasn't take any action.

As the Consumer Reports Safety Blog has reported, the federal government is now ramping up a multi-agency investigation of drywall imported from China that is suspected of releasing sulfur gases believed to be causing corrosion and health problems.

A spokesman for the CPSC told Consumer Reports the agency has been looking into possible defects surrounding drywall imported from China for the last two months and has now initiated a formal compliance investigation.

“The agency is on the ground in Florida in a fact-finding mode,” said CPSC spokesman Joe Martyak. “Our goal is to determine if, and to what extent, there is any safety risk involved with imported Chinese drywall.”

Sen. Nelson, however, wrote that the CPSC's problems go beyond the recent drywall issue:

And this is no the first time the commission has failed to act quickly to protect consumers from dangerous products. When confronted with the issue of Chinese-made toys found to contain extreme levels of lead, it took far too long to act.

For the past three years, the commission has been under the leadership and direction of acting Chairwoman Nancy Nord, who has come under bipartisan criticsm for, among other things, being too cozy with manufacturers. Given her record, it's my belief new leadership is required.

Mr. President, I'm asking you to call on Ms. Nord to resign. I believe that the CPSC needs leaders who will stand up and protect the rights of consumers. It is my hope that you will take action to remove her from office for "neglect of duty" pursuant to Section 4(a) of the Consumer Product Safety Act, as amended (15 U.S.C. 2053 (a)), prior to the expiration of her term in 2012.

Nord was nominated for the CPSC by President George W. Bush and began her term in 2005. The other sitting commissioner is Thomas Moore, who was first tapped by President Bill Clinton in 1995. The third commissioner's seat has been vacant since 2006 when Hal Stratton resigned.

Secretary of defense proposes pared down budget

In what he characterized as a "fundamental overhaul" of the defense budget, Defense Secretary Robert Gates today proposed a $534 billion budget that represents deep cuts to many of the military's biggest weapons programs, according to the Associated Press.

What does this mean for consumers? Some members of Congress are concerned about losing defense contractor jobs with unemployment rates at or near record levels. Lockheed Martin Corp., which makes the F-22 fighter jet, has warned of huge layoffs if programs are cut, the AP reported. But while some weapons programs may be scaled back, others such as the unmanned Predator drone are likely to grow, according to Politico.com.

The proposed budget represents "the first broad rethinking of American military strategy under the Obama administration, which wants to spend more of its money countering terrorism and insurgencies ... and less on preparations for conventional warfare," the New York Times reports.

Defense Department to announce major spending shifts

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates will announce tomorrow a significant shift in the Department's spending priorities, according to Reuters.

The Secretary has repeatedly called for the Department's spending priorities to better match the smaller asymmetric engagements the United States is facing in Iraq and Afghanistan, and will likely face in the future.

The Secretary is expected to curtail spending on large weapons system that don't address a current threat, including the Army's Future Combat system, the Navy’s DDG-1000 destroyer program, and the Air Force's Airborne Laser Program.

"These are not changes to the margins. This is a fundamental shift in direction," said Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell.

The Secretary's announcement comes almost a full month before the President plans to release his budget details. The White House's budget outline set aside $533.7 billion for the Defense Department.

“Gates’ hope is that by revealing it all at once and by explaining it in depth and explaining the strategic rationale for all of these decisions, that people will view it as a whole and not get focused on the individual decisions and not let their parochial interests overcome the fact that it is in our national interests to make these adjustments to the whole of the budget,” Morrell explained.

The Secretary will brief members of Congress tomorrow morning before announcing the changes at a press conference.

House votes to let FDA regulate tobacco

The House of Representatives has voted to give the government the power to regulate tobacco products.

From the Associated Press report:

The 298-112 was a significant victory for anti-smoking groups that have long sought to subject cigarettes to the same government scrutiny that food items on the nation's grocery shelves face.

Under the bill, the Food and Drug Administration would be able to regulate, but not ban, cigarettes and other tobacco products. The FDA could make ingredients public, ban flavoring and prohibit marketing campaigns.

The Senate may take up the issue later this month.

Sebelius says health reform would be her mission if confirmed

Senate hearings for Kathleen Sebelius to be confirmed as the Secretary of Health and Human Services began today in the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, a mostly friendly panel for the Kansas governor to face.

Sen. Ted Kennedy, a long-time advocate for health care reform and chair of the committee, kicked off the proceedings by praising Sebelius.

"I’ve benefitted from the best of medicine, but we have too many uninsured Americans. We have sickness care and not health care. We have too much paperwork and bureaucracy. Costs are out of control. But today we have an opportunity like never before to reform health care," Kennedy, who is battling cancer, said. "And we need a secretary of health who has the vision, the skill, and the knowledge to help us get there. Governor Kathleen Sebelius has those traits and more."

Sebelius said in her opening statement that she would fight to achieve one of President Barack Obama's campaign promises and early initiatives.

"Should I be confirmed, health reform would be my mission--as it is the president’s--along with the tremendous responsibility of running this critical department," she said.

But Sebelius also said she would work to improve the Centers For Disease Control and the Food and Drug Administration, which has been much criticized after several disease outbreaks caused by tainted food. (Read about the latest recall of pistachios.)

"As Americans focus more on prevention and leading healthier lifestyles, HHS must live up to its responsibility to protect the public from health risks," Sebelius said. "It is a core responsibility of HHS, through the FDA, to ensure the food we eat and the medications we take are safe."

Fighting stimulus bill fraud will take a village, apparently

As hundreds of billions of dollars head out of Washington in an effort to stimulate the sagging economy, many are concerned about where and how the money will be spent.

The Government Accounting Office is required to review the spending bimonthly, and today, the investigative arm of Congress asked the public for help fulfilling that role.

From the GAO's press release:

“Congress and the President have insisted on accountability and transparency over Recovery Act funds, and we at GAO are taking steps to help ensure that accountability. The public can help to identify improper activities or weaknesses in programs that warrant scrutiny. FraudNET can play an important role in alerting GAO, potentially early on, to questionable uses of Recovery Act funds,” said Gene L. Dodaro, Acting Comptroller General of the United States and head of the GAO

“The Recovery Act has set aside billions of dollars to create jobs, invest in infrastructure, and fund other measures to counter the current economic downturn. Experience tells us that the risk of fraud and abuse grows when large sums are spent quickly, eligibility requirements are being established or changed, and new programs created.” Dodaro added.

Begun in 1979 as a toll-free phone number, FraudNet has expanded in recent years to receive allegations via the internet, fax, or letter. The public can call 1-800-424-5454 (an automated answering system); send an e-mail to fraudnet@gao.gov; send a fax to (202) 512-3086; or write to: GAO FraudNet 441 G Street, NW, Mail Stop 4T21, Washington, DC 20548. The public may also visit the FraudNet page of our website at http://www.gao.gov/fraudnet/fraudnet.htm.

President Barack Obama has appointed Vice President Joe Biden to oversee the implementation of the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and has appointed Earl Devaney, a former Secret Service Agent, to be the Executive Department's watchdog.

Obama expresses support for flood victims as Republicans criticize the budget

In his weekly address, President Obama expressed his support for the people affected by the flooding in the Northwest and pledged to provide federal assistance.

Snow and rain have conspired to raise the Red River in North Dakota to its highest recorded level, 40.67 feet. Officials are concerned that levies and dikes will be ineffective if the river rises above 43 feet.

Several thousand people in Fargo and neighboring Moorehead have already been evacuated, including prison inmates and hospital patients.

In response, the President this week declared a major disaster area in North Dakota and Minnesota, and dispatched to the area the acting head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Nancy Ward.

"I will continue to monitor the situation carefully," the President vowed. "We will do what must be done to help in concert with state and local agencies and non-profit organizations – and volunteers who are doing so much to aid the response effort."

The President commended the volunteers who helped to fill sandbags and reinforce the levies, calling their assistance "integral to our response."

"In facing sudden crises or more stubborn challenges," Obama said, "the truth is we are all in this together – as neighbors and fellow citizens."

The President added that he was looking forward to signing the Public Service bill that recently cleared both the House and Senate.

The Republican address this week was delivered by the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, Judd Gregg. Republicans have struggled in the past weeks to adequately describe their opposition to the budget, resorting mostly to criticisms that the spending plan is too large and too expensive.

"You may have heard this before," Gregg acknowledged, "that the budget of the President spends too much, taxes too much and borrows too much." Gregg maintained that the budget triple the size of the national debt while levying "the largest tax increase in history, much of it aimed at taxing small business people."

"These are staggering numbers," he said, "and represent an extraordinary move of our government to the left."

The Senator specifically opposed the President's energy plans and efforts to limit the private sector's influence over the health care sector.

"If you do not spend too much, if you do not tax too much, if you do not borrow too much," he concluded, "we can leave our children a better nation where they will have even greater opportunity for prosperity, peace and freedom."

Congressional hearings tackle consumer credit issues

More and more of us having trouble paying the bills--whether they're from the mortgage, credit cards, or car loans--and it doesn't look like there is a bailout in store for individual consumers. But all of our tough times being talked about in Washington.

Today two Congressional hearings tackled the problems consumers are having in this recession. A House subcommittee examined "Consumer Credit and Debt: The Role of the Federal Trade Commission in Protecting the Public,” while a Senate subcommittee took on “Abusive Credit Card Practices and Bankruptcy.”

The head of the FTC told the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection that his agency is trying to protect regular folks, but it needs more funding and more authority.

"The agency has used its traditional consumer protection tools of law enforcement, broad-based research and policy development, and consumer and business outreach to provide important protections for consumers of financial services," FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said. "However, the Commission must do more. To enable the FTC to perform a greater and more effective role protecting consumers, it recommends changes in the law and resources to enhance its authority to promulgate needed rules, prosecute cases against law violators, and conduct critical research. If given more authority, the Commission certainly will use it to protect consumers."

The Senate hearing focused on one area of personal finance over which the FTC chief said his agency had very little authority: credit cards.

Senators on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the Courts heard about how credit card companies--some of which have taken billion-dollar bailouts from the government--are treating their customers.

"The standard credit card agreement gives the lender the power to bleed their customer through evolving and ever more crafty trick and traps," Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse said. "Under this business model, the lender focuses on squeezing out as much revenue as possible in penalty rates and fees, pushing the customer closer and closer to the edge of bankruptcy."

Whitehouse is sponsoring legislation that would limit interest rates that credit card companies can charge consumers who are in bankruptcy proceedings.

The proposal would change bankruptcy laws to dissolve claims for repayment of debt carrying interest over a certain level, now 18.5 percent, according to the Associated Press. It could affect millions of dollars in claims made by credit card companies from consumers who have filed for bankruptcy protection.

Sunday talk shows preview coming budget battle

Administration officials and Congressional Republicans squared off this morning over the President's $3.6 trillion budget outline amidst news that the Congressional Budget Office's forecasts are significantly gloomier than the Administration's own projections.

The CBO announced on Friday that federal deficits would rise an additional $4.8 from 2010-2019, $2.3 trillion more than the Administration's estimates. The difference stems in large part from a disagreement over how fast the economy will grow after it escapes from recession.

"When you get out five, 10 years, they’re assuming that real GDP is only going to grow about 2.2 or 2.3 percent a year," said Christina Romer, chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, on Fox News Sunday. "And that’s just lower than private forecasters. It’s lower than the Federal Reserve. And we think it’s just too pessimistic."

Congressional Republicans, including several powerful moderates, said that the deficits were unacceptably large and would need to be scaled back in the final budget.

Senator Susan Collins of Maine said on ABC's This Week that the debts were "not sustainable," and that they posed "a threat to the basic health of our economy." Senator Judd Greg, who declined to serve as President Obama's Commerce Secretary, called the debts "staggering," and said that deficits of "4 percent to 5 percent of GDP" were "not sustainable under any form of government."

"The practical implications of this," Judd continued, "is bankruptcy for the United States. There’s no other way around it. If we maintain the proposals which are in this budget over the 10-year period that this budget covers, this country will go bankrupt. People will not buy our debt; our dollar will become devalued."

Policymakers also demonstrated their support for Treasury Secretary Timothy Geitner, who received widespread criticism after it was revealed that A.I.G. used part of its bailout money to pay for $165 million in employee bonuses.

"If you’re asking me should he resign," said Senator Chuck Grassley on CBS' Face the Nation, "I don’t think anybody after two months has been tested enough that I would say he should resign. I think he ought to be given some time."

Romer characterized calls for the Secretary's resignation as "really silly."

Members of Congress continued to fume over the A.I.G. bonuses, though it seemed far from certain that the President would sign a House-passed bill reclaiming the bonuses through the tax code.

"Retention bonuses are, to a great extent, extortion," Congressman Barney Frank said. "It is people saying... I’ve got the combination to the safe, and if you don’t bribe me, I’m going to leave and you’ll never be able to open the safe."

Vice Presidential advisor Jared Bernstein responded on This Week that the bill might be "dangerous," saying: “The president would be concerned that this bill may have some problems in going too far – the House bill – may go too far in terms of some legal issues, constitutional validity, using the tax code to surgically punish a small group of people."

Over on NBC's Meet the Press, Governors Ed Rendell and Arnold Schwarzenegger joined with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to discuss their new group, Building America's Future, which will call for substantial investments in the nation's infrastructure.

"This country desperately needs to build a high-speed rail passenger system." Governor Rendell said. "We need to improve our rail freight system. But it's not just transportation.  It's the levees that failed in Cedar Rapids and New Orleans.  It's dams, it's water and wastewater systems. It's so much more."