kathleen sebelius is the secretary of health and human services. i spoke with her earlier this afternoon. madam secretary. >> hi, judy, how are you. >> woodruff: i'm well. how are you. >> pretty good. >> woodruff: thank you for doing this for us. >> sure. >> woodruff: caused quite a stir over there at the white house. >> i met with two or three governors the last couple of hours who want to do programs that bring all the private payors and medicaid and others to the table, work with doctors and providers. states want to look at regional exchanges. they're looking at all kinds of innovative ways to cover everybody, but they they can actually lower costs and have some even more effective delivery system changes. what the president said today is this innovation waiver has always been part of the affordable care act. since it was passed. it was not scheduled to start until 2017. but the more we got input from states around the country who were eager to roll up their shreves and get going, why not put this on the table from the outset. why have a state

so with that, i'd like to turn the podium over to my good friend, kathleen sebelius, as the dean was correct there is no person more passionate about healthy lifestyles than secretary sebelius. she is a runner. early in the morning i suspect. the rest of us are sort of jogging later in the day. we -- i just can't get up early in the morning. but the secretary has been tremendous advocate and has an extraordinary responsibility with the affordable health care act and doing a great job. kathleen? >> thank you. >> i'm going to start by also thanking the dean and president knapp and those of us on the g.w. faculty and staff and students for having us back here. the last time i was here we were making an important announcement on tobacco and we are back to talk about the new dietary guidelines. i think it's appropriate to be here at g.w. which has had such a leadership role in the health of all americans. and it's great to be here with my good friend and partner, agriculture secretary tom vilsack. you have heard the dean say that we both were governors and we are governors from food states

and then you're going to hear from kathleen sebelius. you remember her. she's the waver-granting secretary of health and human services giving wavers to friends in high places. last week, the department of health and human as much as granted more than 500 -- and human as much as granted more than 500 waivers. they don't have to live under the law that everybody else needs to live under. you know who got a lot of the waivers? union members. union members who actually supported, lobbied and contributed to work to get this law passed. ia, why don't they have -- yeah, why don't they have to live under the law? they're the ones with the waivers. union workers are 7% of the private employees in this country yet they've gotten 40% of the waivers. if kathleen sebelius can give waivers to 2.2 million people who have friends in high places, i think everybody in america ought to be given a waiver against this health care law. [applause] on election night, the exit poll said 59% of american voters wanted this law repealed. people know what they want. and they don't w

i will turn it over to the experts now. >> health and human services secretary kathleen sebelius also spoke with reporters about her department's budget for next year. nearly $900 billion. this is about 45 minutes. >> good afternoon, everyone. welcome. i am the assistant secretary for public affairs. welcome to the humphrey building. thanks for joining us as we released the president's fiscal year 2012 department of health and human services budget. today we are joined by the department's leadership, who will help us what do the president's proposals. i am pleased to welcome the deputy secretary as well as the heads of the secretary staff division to receded in the front row. i would like to introduce to you the leader avert divisions your joining me on stage. administration for children and families, administration on aging, agency for health care research and quality, tom friedman from the centers for disease control, peggy hamburger from the food and drug administration, the indian health service, national institutes of health, office of inspector general, and substance abuse and i

so with that, i'd like to turn the podium over to my good friend, kathleen sebelius, as the dean was correct there is no person more passionate about healthy lifestyles than secretary sebelius. she is a runner. early in the morning i suspect. the rest of us are sort of jogging later in the day. we -- i just can't get up early in the morning. but the secretary has been tremendous advocate and has an extraordinary responsibility with the affordable health care act and doing a great job. kathleen? >> thank you. >> i'm going to start by also thanking the dean and president knapp and those of us on the g.w. faculty and staff and students for having us back here. the last time i was here we were making an important announcement on tobacco and we are back to talk about the new dietary guidelines. i think it's appropriate to be here at g.w. which has had such a leadership role in the health of all americans. and it's great to be here with my good friend and partner, agriculture secretary tom vilsack. you have heard the dean say that we both were governors and we are governors from food states

eastern, health and human services secretary kathleen sebelius will testify before the senate finance committee chaired by democrat max baucus. we will take your questions and comments and look at the day's headlines in a few moments, live on "washington journal." the house will be in session at 10:00 a.m. eastern for general speeches with members returning at noon to continue the at noon to continue the

only the bigger companies and unions have access to kathleen sebelius and the white house. if you of our friends in high places, you have an opportunity to get a waiver to get out of the mandates of the health-care law. 40% of all of the waivers have gone to union workers, but union workers are only 7% of the work force in this country. thatst doesn't seem right people can do that. i want to have the waiver for every american, which is part of the health-care law, the state health care choice act. if the states as we want a waiver, out of the whole thing, they should have the same opportunity as friends of the administration have who are now saying, i have read the bill -- nancy pelosi said you have to read the bill to find out what is in it. i have read it, i don't like it, let me out. host: you are on with the senator, go ahead. caller: hi, greta. i would like to say that i'm with john barrasso. i like everything he is saying. this one guy who asked about how they are going to enforce the individual mandate -- i have a question just like that. when i was a young man, got

secretary kathleen sebelius decides to go back to kansas. she calls you in and says, -- he called you in and said, i would like you to take the hhs job, but your first assignment is to tell me what to say in the state of the union speech about cost containment. what -- and you only get a couple of lines because everybody else wants a couple of lines. so, let's start down the road. tell me -- you don't have to tell me whether you would take the job, but what you would tell the president, what you would tell the president to say about cost containment in his second term speech. he wants that to be the lead on health care in his second term. >> i don't have to think about it. change party identification. [inaudible conversations] >> you know,. >> president obama. >> i think that i would suggest to him at one level do not open promise. try to get a sense of what we all know, and that is that it will not be easy. try at some level to engage us all because we all have to be involved. >> i would say the same thing. a call to action. somebody has to

secretary kathleen sebelius decides to go back to kansas. she calls you in and says, -- he called you in and said, i would like you to take the hhs job, but your first assignment is to tell me what to say in the state of the union speech about cost containment. what -- and you only get a couple of lines because everybody else wants a couple of lines. so, let's start down the road. tell me -- you don't have to tell me whether you would take the job, but what you would tell the president, what you would tell the president to say about cost containment in his second term speech. he wants that to be the lead on health care in his second term. >> i don't have to think about it. change party identification. [inaudible conversations] >> you know,. >> president obama. >> i think that i would suggest to him at one level do not open promise. try to get a sense of what we all know, and that is that it will not be easy. try at some level to engage us all because we all have to be involved. >> i would say the same thing. a call to action. somebody has to

at c-span3, the senate finance committee will hear from health and human services secretary kathleen sebelius about her performance proposed budget. >> heard apartments for -- her department's proposed budget. democratic senator max baucus is the chairman. >> jonathan l. on of politico, how are democrats reacting to the proposed budget? >> republicans are charging him with spending and borrowing. on the democratic side, there is mixed reaction. most democrats have praised president obama for attempting to address deficits in the future. at the same time, some of the planes has been lukewarm. -- praise has been lukewarm and targeted by criticism by some people. emanuel cleaver question why he was cutting programs, particularly those for the disadvantaged at a time when you have such high unemployment. >> now that the president has unveiled his vision for spending, when and how well congress began its work on crafting a budget for next year? >> the joke was that the president's budget is dead on arrival when it gets to congress. the committees do not have to pay any attention to anything he put

later in the day, kathleen sebelius will take questions about the president's requests for hhs for 2012, that includes mandatory spending for medicare and medicaid. she'll be at the senate finance committee, and that's live at 2:30 eastern. >> when i was sworn in as president, i pledged to cut the deficit in half by the end of my first term. the budget i'm proposing today meets that pledge. >> president obama sent congress a $3.7 trillion budget that would reduce the deficit by clash 1.1 trillion over the next ten years. this week hear the details from the administration including cabinet officials and watch reaction from house and senate members online at the c-span video library. search, watch, clip and share anytime. it's washington your way. >> secretary of state hillary clinton spoke with reporters at the u.s. capitol following a meeting with house speaker john boehner. they talked about the federal spending levels for the rest of this fiscal year and the president's 2012 budget request. secretary clinton said that proposed cuts by house republicans would be, quote, detrimental to

eastern time, hhs secretary kathleen sebelius will testify about her agency's budget. and if our viewers are interested we will cover house ways and means. they will talk to tim geithner, the treasury secretary. said a budget committee will be there. if you are interested, go to our website, c-span.org, for more information when those are slated to air. i wanted to show our viewers the "wall street journal" headline about all of this. if i can find it here -- let me paraphrase. president obama's budget proposal is a challenge to the gop. i am just wondering, because it does not exclude it entitlement reform. guest: i think what the president has tried to do is perhaps laid down a marker for the left engine of the budget debate we will see starting this morning in the house for 2011. the republicans in the house decided to try to cut $100 billion from the request the president put forward just a year ago, for the current year. that would be $58 billion cut from the current trajectories spending for the current year. i think that -- that fight was going to be big enough

speaker, today i sent a letter to kathleen see we'llous -- sebelius, secretary of health and human services asking in light of judge vincent's ruling in florida two weeks ago today where a declare torrey judgment was issued that the patient protection affordable care act is inconstitutional that further implementation of this act not go forward. in fact, judge vincent stated that officials of the executive branch willing adhere to the law as declared by the court. as a result the declaratory judgment is the functional equivalent of an injunction. there is no reason to conclude this presumption should not apply here. end quote. i believe the judge is correct. that the administration should not proceed with implementation and i have asked the secretary for clarification that is indeed her position and will be her position going forward. now, of course, we do have debate and vote on the continuing resolution to fund the united states government for the next seven months. it is my expectation that funding for provisions of enacting the patient protection affordable care act will not be funded i

so with that, i'd like to turn the podium over to my good friend, kathleen sebelius, as the dean was correct there is no person more passionate about healthy lifestyles than secretary sebelius. she is a runner. early in the morning i suspect. the rest of us are sort of jogging later in the day. we -- i just can't get up early in the morning. but the secretary has been tremendous advocate and has an extraordinary responsibility with the affordable health care act and doing a great job. kathleen? >> thank you. >> i'm going to start by also thanking the dean and president knapp and those of us on the g.w. faculty and staff and students for having us back here. the last time i was here we were making an important announcement on tobacco and we are back to talk about the new dietary guidelines. i think it's appropriate to be here at g.w. which has had such a leadership role in the health of all americans. and it's great to be here with my good friend and partner, agriculture secretary tom vilsack. you have heard the dean say that we both were governors and we are governors from food states

today we welcome secretary kathleen sebelius to the finance committee to discuss the president's budget in the health of our citizens. last year, madame secretary, you appeared before this committee to discuss the president's budget under much different circumstances. today our circumstances are much improved because the new health care law. and we consider what other areas of your department, particularly human services, need to be addressed this year. last year seniors with medicare drug benefits had a gap in coverage that made their descriptions unaffordable. this year seniors in this coverage gap receive a 50% discount on their prescription drugs. last year small businesses struggleded to afford health benefits for their employees. this year, 4 million small businesses could be eligible for a tax credit to help curb the cost of coverage. last year billions of taxpayer dollars were lost to fraud and law enforcement officials were stuck with antiquated tools to fight scams. this year tough new laws keep criminals out of federal health care programs. this morning we turn our attention