Obama Thanks Sebelius For Service

HHS Sec. Kathleen Sebelius Resigns

White House officials told the press tonight that Health & Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has resigned.

In recent months, Sebelius has faced heavy scrutiny after the troubled launch of the federal online insurance marketplace and has been deluged with Republican attacks over the costs of the Affordable Care Act. During the first difficult weeks of the federal marketplace, Sebelius proved to be an unsteady administration spokeswoman for the health care law. She struggled mightily in an interview on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart weeks after the launch to explain the problems with the balky HealthCare.gov website. And she set off Republican howls when she tartly referred to those who called for her resignation after the balky launch as "people who I don't work for and who do not want this program to work in the first place." She was even lampooned on Saturday Night Live. Still, Obama stuck with her, saying that the IT problems could not be blamed on the HHS secretary

Right wing sites are celebrating. Koch Brothers front group Americans For Prosperity have issued a press release.

Secretary Sebelius' resignation serves as an admission that ObamaCare will continue to be completely unworkable. Sebelius knows what many are now predicting; that more trouble lies ahead for ObamaCare. While the administration celebrates dubious enrollment figures, Americans are still facing serious hardships under the law. As the employer mandate takes effect, premiums continue to climb, and access to doctors shrinks, more and more middle class families will discover the hard way that ObamaCare is wrong for them and wrong for the country.

RNC To Obama: Fire Kathleen Sebelius

CHARLOTTE: Female Politicians Rock Opening LGBT Caucus Session At DNC

A quartet of prominent female politicians stole the show at today's opening LGBT Caucus session at the DNC, where an overflow crowd of more than 400 delegates and press forced convention security to institute a one-in/one-out policy at the door. Speaking to the overcharged audience (among others) was White House Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett, Health & Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Rep. Tammy Baldwin, and AFT union head Randi Weingarten.

At times the event felt more like an Obama pep rally than anything else as speaker after speaker ticked off accomplishments and prompted numerous standing ovations. Sitting among the delegates were numerous notables from the world of gay politics, including Democratic National Committee treasurer Andrew Tobias, Clinton White House advisor Richard Socarides, NYC Council Speaker Christine Quinn, and New York state Sen. Tom Duane. I got a LOT of LGBT delegate photos and will post them here separately.

Press Release Of The Day

"I am equally committed to the full and meaningful implementation of Equal Employment Opportunity policies for all HHS employees and applicants. My goal is to create an environment within HHS, free of discrimination, where all employees may work without fear of reprisal or discriminatory harassment; where qualified employees and applicants with disabilities receive reasonable accommodations; and where all employees are recognized for their individual performance and contributions to HHS, without regard to race, national origin, color, age, religion, sex (including pregnancy and gender identity), sexual orientation, disability (physical or mental), status as a parent, genetic information, or other non-merit factor. I fully expect all employees and supervisors to adopt these goals. With your support and participation, we can ensure workforce diversity and equal opportunity are two of our greatest strengths." - Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services, via press release.

(Tipped by JMG reader Nicholas)

HHS Secretary Sebelius - It Gets Better

Is The Public Option Back On?

On Sunday word rocketed around the intertubes that the Obama administration was dropping the "public option" portion of the health care reform plan - government-sponsored insurance for the poor or uninsurable. The word came from Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, who now says she "misspoke." Sounds like the outrage from progressives caused some furious backtracking, eh?

(Via - AmericaBlog)

KS Gov. Kathleen Sebelius To Head HHS

Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D) is likely to be chosen as Secretary of Health and Human Services - provided she doesn't pull a Daschle.

Should she be nominated, Ms. Sebelius would bring eight years of experience as her state’s insurance commissioner as well as six years as a governor running a state Medicaid program. But with President Obama about to begin a drive to expand health coverage, an issue on which the two parties have deep ideological divisions, her strongest asset in the view of the White House may be her record of navigating partisan politics as a Democrat in one of the country’s most Republican states.

It remained unclear whether the White House would finish vetting Ms. Sebelius in time to nominate her by next week. Advisers described her as “the leading candidate,” although they said other names were still in discussion and emphasized that no final decision had been made. After the troubles with Mr. Daschle and other nominees, the White House has intensified its vetting to make sure it thoroughly scrubs its choices before Mr. Obama signs off.

Sebelius would be the fourth woman to join Obama's cabinet and would oversee a $700B budget. Health care activists appear pleased with Sebelius' candidacy so far.