berwick. i say "finally" because for months my colleagues and i have requested this opportunity, a request which was denied when president obama provided a recess appointment for dr. berwick. so yesterday's hearing was a hollow one of sorts since dr. berwick had already been installed at c.m.s., or maybe parachuted in would be the right way to describe it as he has made many controversial comments about his love for the british health care system and for rationing and other comments that certainly deserved a hearing in regards to a confirmation process. that did not happen. and he was also installed pretty much after the debate that we had on health care. now, unfortunately, we were only given five minutes each yesterday to question the most important man in american health care as of today. five minutes sandwiched in between lengthy remarks by the chairntion the witness and the floor votes that we had yesterday. i was not able to question dr. berwick, but i asked unanimous consent of the chai

don berwick. he's in charge of making medicare and medicare more efficient and modernizing them for the 21st century. it provides the protection of the law. we look forward to hearing it carried out. senator grassley. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i and the members of this committee take the importance of this committee and our constitutional role as the united states senate very seriously. you, dr. berwick, were nominated di prom to serve as the -- by president obama to serve as the administrator. you and i personally met in my office to discuss, and we did this in june, to discuss your nomination, and despite repeated requests from me and my colleagues, we were never able to get a nomination hearing, and instead you were appointed under recess powers on july 7. i believe that was incredibly unfortunate for you and for the position that you now hold. i think you should have had the opportunity to come before this committee and explain and defend yourself and make the case in person that you're the

donald berwick?raised a lot of eyebrows in controversial statements about sharing the wealth when it came to health care and how health care should be paid for. now lawmakers are going to get a minute to ask the man a few questions. he's about to testify and we'll take you there live. bill: what's next for the man, one of the most prestigeious honors in the u.s. military. that is next, also.eted martha: great story. my mortge - wonderful story. martha: is that you? dancing with the stars. look at them go. bill: break dance! maybe the christmas party! bristol palin survives to dance again, that's sarah palin's daughter, overcoming low judge scores and she's in the finals now. brandy got the boot last night. sheet compete for the mirror ball trophy against jennifer grey from dirty dancing and kyle massey. martha: all right. to this really emotional and fantastic story that happened, for the first time since the vietnam war, a living american soldier received the nation's' highest military decorations.

berwick. we thank you you for your leadership and you are here at the right time. i did want to first comment, as you know, the initiative put forth by michigan hospitals has been a real driver in terms of quality initiatives, dealing with hospital-borne infections, reducing costs by saving lives and focusing on quality. i know that's how you're looking at this. also, just for my completion, there was a comment made that we had not tried to forget the s.g.r. and my bill, senate bill 1776, thank you for the administration's support. we could not get past the filibuster, unfortunately. we will keep working on that. i have a few quick items i'd like to talk specifically about what repealing the new law in services would mean to seniors, to families, to moms and children. we have now a new prescription drug benefit that first of all this year provides a $250 rebate or help to seniors. i know many are very grateful for having that help if they've fallen in the doughnut hole. next year, half of the cost of folks that fall in the gap of the prescription drug coverage for

. >> appearing before the senate finance committee, medicare chief donald berwick defended president obama's health care law saying it has already begun helping senior citizens. >> close to 2 million medicare beneficiaries fallen into the doughnut holes have received checks to help with prescription drug cost. >> one focused on the medicare advantage program which services an estimated 15 million people, nearly one quarter of all beneficiaries. the $36 billion and more than 7 million enrollees that the new health care law cuts from this program over the next decade. >> you are not strengthening medicare advantage. have you cut a lot of people out of medicare advantage. especially in rural america. >> normal turnover. >> that's not normal. >> committee democrats led the witness with questions designed to show the catastrophic consequences that would ensue if the health care law were repealed. berwick said he couldn't think of a worse scenario for seniors. >> we tell them we are not going to improve access to preventative services like colonoscopy or monday moggography or extend the li

donald berwick so this position. check out this exchange dr. berwick and senator orrin hatch of utah. >> you've cut a lot of people out of medicare advantage. especially in rural america. >> there's normal turnover, senator. >> that's not normal. normally, you can count on me supporting it, all administration officials, if i can, i think the president ought to have the people he wants around him. i hope when we send you questions in writing that this administration will permit you to answer our questions, because this is a dog gone important committee shannon: james rosen is live in washington covering this sometimes contentious hearing this morning. good morning, james. >> reporter: good afternoon to you shannon. medicare administrator donald berwick, facing republican fire on two counts today, both as a front line defender of the health care reforms that president obama signed into law and recess appointee, installed into office without senate confirmation accordingly. and as you just saw in the line of questioning pursued by senator hatch, g

donald berwick. he is a 64-year-old pediatrician.senate committee today for the first time since the president appointed him while lawmakers were on vacation in july. that means he got to skip the whole confirmation process. it's the first time the medicare administrator has been able to do so and it triggered a strong reaction as you might imagine from republicans today. molly henneberg has the news and she is live in washington tonight. hello molly. >> hi, shep. donalder berwick told that committee today the law is already helping senior citizens. specifically 2 million medicare recipients who fallen into that gap. they are getting government checks to help pay drug costs. republicans shot back that the law cuts money from the medicare advantage program, which covers nearly one quarter of all medicare patients. they say 7 million of these people will be cut from the program over the next decade. >> you are not strengthening the medicare advantage. you have cut a lot of people out of medicare advantage. especially in rural america.

berwick talked about today. i thought it was a very good exchange and encouraging exchange as we go forward in health care reform. again, mr. president i appreciate the opportunity to make these remarks today and it is a real special privilege to do it with you sitting in that seat today. with that, i yield back the balance of my time, and there's no quorum call. all right. we're just going to -- i think we're adjourned here for a while. thank you so much. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the senate stands in recess until 4:00 p.m. today. it. [applause] >> treasury secretary tim geithner says several changes are needed in the u.s. tax code. he told "the wall streetoting thg? journal"'s annual ceo councilthe gol yesterday a growing number of tax breaks are required renewal. and that's causing uncertainty for businesses. his comments are about a halfy ge hour. cullen, your colleague was here last night he said that what would be looked at is how the u.s. handled the emergeance of this extraordinary

i think don berwick, he'll have another hearing next week, even max baucus said he thought it was notood use to the president's time to reappoint him in a recess appointment. what are they doing in the response to law? so i think we'll see that. i think the third thing will be in the legislative arena, and the way that i would look at it is that rather than a strike and replace, after they have their vote and make their effort, i think what we'll see is a series of surgical strikes. and maybe going after things, norm mentioned one of them. the individual mandate. we can talk more about the substantive implications. but that clearly is unpopular, more than that, there's the state lawsuits that you can point to. i think they'll go after the independent payment advisory board potentially. i think they'll look at some of the industry fees and taxes which you can argue were -- offset the cost of the bill. but will very likely drive up premiums if you tax the underlying cost of care, they are going to go up. i think they'll look at some other programs, some of which will save money and othe

i think don berwick, he'll have another hearing next week, even max baucus said he thought it was not good use to the president's time to reappoint him in a recess appointment. what are they doing in the response to law? so i think we'll see that. i think the third thing will be in the legislative arena, and the way that i would look at it is that rather than a strike and replace, after they have their vote and make their effort, i think what we'll see is a series of surgical strikes. and maybe going after things, norm mentioned one of them. the individual mandate. we can talk more about the substantive implications. but that clearly is unpopular, more than that, there's the state lawsuits that you can point to. i think they'll go after the independent payment advisory board potentially. i think they'll look at some of the industry fees and taxes which you can argue were -- offset the cost of the bill. but will very likely drive up premiums if you tax the underlying cost of care, they are going to go up. i think they'll look at some other programs, some of which will save money and ot

i think don berwick, he'll have another hearing next week, even max baucus said he thought it was not good use to the president's time to reappoint him in a recess appointment. what are they doing in the response to law? so i think we'll see that. i think the third thing will be in the legislative arena, and the way that i would look at it is that rather than a strike and replace, after they have their vote and make their effort, i think what we'll see is a series of surgical strike. and maybe going after things, norm mentioned one of them. the individual mandate. we can talk more about the substantive implications. but that clearly is unpopular, more than that, there's the state lawsuits that you can point to. i think they'll go after the independent payment advisory board potentially. i think they'll look at some of the industry fees and axes which you can argue were -- ffset the cost of the bill. but will very likely drive up premis if you tax the underlying cost of care, they are going to go up. i think they'll look at some other programs, some of which will save money and others

i think don berwick, he'll have another hearing next week, even max baucus said he thought it was not good use to the president's time to reappoint him in a recess appointment. what are they doing in the response to law? so i think we'll see that. i think the third thing will be in the legislative arena, and the waythat i would look at it is that rather than a strike and place, after they have their vote and make their effort, i think what we'll see is a series of surgical strikes. and maybe going after things, norm mentioned one of them. the individual mandate. we can talk more about the substantive implications. but that clearly is unpopular, more than that, there's the state lawsuits that you can point to. i think they'll go after the independent payment advisory board potentially. i think they'll look at some of the industry fees and taxes which you can argue were-- offset the cost of the bill. but will very likely drive up premiums if you tax the underlying cost of care, they are going to go up. i think they'll look at some other programs, some of which will save money and others