From today's press briefing:
Q: Robert, the President and others have spoken of Senator Daschle's unique qualifications to lead the health reform effort. Given his withdrawal, two questions. One, what impact do you think that will have on the opportunity to get health care reform, which was a heavy lift to start with? And secondly, was there or is there any consideration of keeping him on in the White House post, which does not require a confirmation?MR. GIBBS: The President -- well, Senator Daschle has withdrawn his nomination and withdrawn from serving in the White House in the capacity that we had talked about earlier.As it relates to your first question on health care, I think Senator Daschle would be -- and I think he says it, in essence, in his statement -- that much like the agenda that the President has outlined on any number of subjects, the issue of affordable health care for every American is bigger than one person; and the job of ensuring health care reform will outlast any person nominated for the Secretary of HHS and likely anybody that serves in this administration.This a problem that confounds federal and state governments. It confounds families and businesses large and small. We watch each year as health care prices get higher and higher and higher, and more people slip through the cracks, more businesses are unable to afford to provide health care coverage for their employees. We are hopeful to sign a bill this week that closes that gap for children by expanding the popular Children's Health Insurance Program.I don't think the effort slows down for health care reform, and I think Senator Daschle and others would admit that the effort is far bigger than any one individual. It's so important, it encompasses so much of our economy, and we understand that the system that we currently have whereby Americans pay more for health care and get less from it than virtually any industrialized country on the planet underscores that this is bigger than any one group or any individual.I think there are obviously many people in this administration that are working on this issue right now. We're looking for a new nominee, but the problem has existed for quite some time and the work toward a solution to make health care more affordable won't stop or won't pause while we look for that nominee.
