HHS nominee Burwell to face Senate GOP grilling

Sylvia Mathews Burwell, whom the Senate unanimously confirmed last year as director of the Office of Management and Budget, is widely expected to be confirmed as the next HHS secretary.

Few significant concerns have been raised about her ability or fitness for the post overseeing the $1 trillion agency. But that doesn't mean there won't be plenty of tough questions when she appears Thursday before the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee.

The hearing will give Republicans a chance to blast away at the perceived failings of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and bolster their odds of gaining control of the Senate in the November elections. They are expected to focus on HHS' lack of transparency on insurance exchange enrollments and the administration's use of executive authority to make significant changes to the law.

“It is an unfortunate fact that the confirmation process is used typically by both parties to highlight differences as opposed to just (considering) the fitness of the candidate,” said Michael Leavitt, a former Republican governor of Utah who served as HHS secretary under President George W. Bush and now heads the consulting firm Leavitt Partners.

Last week, five Republican members of Louisiana's House delegation sent a letter urging the state's two senators to block Burwell's nomination. One of those senators, Democrat Mary Landrieu, faces a tough re-election contest in which the healthcare law is a central issue.

Burwell's second stop on Capitol Hill this month will be before the Senate Finance Committee. “I think in the final analysis she'll be confirmed,” Leavitt said, “unless something comes up that nobody knows about.”

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