Senate Confirms Burwell to Lead Health and Human Services

WASHINGTON - The Senate on Thursday confirmed the nomination of Sylvia Mathews Burwell to be secretary of health and human services, by a vote of 78 to 17, which will make her responsible for delivering health insurance to more than one-third of all Americans.

Ms. Burwell, 48, has been director of the White House Office of Management and Budget since April of last year.

White House officials said that President Obama selected her because he wanted a proven manager to carry out the health care law, which got off to a rocky start under the current health secretary, Kathleen Sebelius.

Ms. Burwell sailed through confirmation hearings before two Senate committees, where she mollified lawmakers with promises to be candid and cooperative in working with Congress.

She won endorsements from several conservative Republicans including Senators Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and John McCain of Arizona, despite their disagreement with her on the merits of the Affordable Care Act.

Mr. Coburn described Ms. Burwell as 'the real deal,' saying: 'She's competent. So often we have people placed in Washington who aren't competent for the task at hand.'

'Even when she has her mind made up,' Mr. Coburn said, 'she will listen to another point of view to gain information she might not have.' And because she is from a small town in West Virginia, he said, 'she comes to Washington with a lot of common sense.'

Mr. McCain said Ms. Burwell was an 'excellent choice' for what he described as a thankless job - like being 'captain of the Titanic after it hit the iceberg.'

The most immediate task for Ms. Burwell is to preserve and defend the Affordable Care Act, a target of Republican criticism in many of this year's midterm election campaigns. As secretary, she will be responsible for Medicare and Medicaid, which insure more than 100 million Americans; the National Institutes of Health, the world's largest biomedical research agency; and the Food and Drug Administration, whose decisions affect virtually every American on a daily basis.

Congressional aides and lobbyists said Ms. Burwell's performance at her confirmation hearings provided a textbook example of how nominees should handle themselves to placate Congress while also being loyal to the president and not budging on policy.

Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon and chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, predicted that Ms. Burwell would be 'a force for bringing people together, finding common ground and being bipartisan.'

Republicans said they hoped Ms. Burwell would address some of their concerns about the health care law.

Senator Rob Portman, Republican of Ohio, said, for example, that hundreds of thousands of people were receiving incorrect health insurance subsidies because the federal government had not verified their income or eligibility.

Solving this problem, he said, will require 'new leadership from the top.'

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