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

secretary sebelius is guiding the implementation of the historic affordable care act. she also is at the forefront of the obama administration's efforts to build a 21st century health care system for putting a new focus on prevention to promoting electronic health records to expanding the primary care work force. the partners across the cabinet, she has launched new efforts to make government work better for the american people, including working with secretary vilsack to build a 2112 century food safety system and new guidelines to be announced here today. throughout his distinguished career in public service as mayor, state senator, and governor of iowa, secretary vilsack has had a remarkable record of making positive change in the lives of those who he has served. in the past two years usda supported struggling farmers and ranchers, provided food aid to one in four americans, and implemented the recovery act to create jobs and build a foundation for future economic growth. under secretary vilsack's leadership, usda is working to conserve america's forests and privat

secretary sebelius is guiding the implementation of the historic affordable care act. she also is at the forefront of the obama administration's efforts to build a 21st century health care system for putting a new focus on prevention to promoting electronic health records to expanding the primary care work force. the partners across the cabinet, she has launched new efforts to make government work better for the american people, including working with secretary vilsack to build a 2112 century food safety system and new guidelines to be announced here today. throughout his distinguished career in public service as mayor, state senator, and governor of iowa, secretary vilsack has had a remarkable record of making positive change in the lives of those who he has served. in the past two years usda supported struggling farmers and ranchers, provided food aid to one in four americans, and implemented the recovery act to create jobs and build a foundation for future economic growth. under secretary vilsack's leadership, usda is working to conserve america's forests and privat

secretary sebelius, thank you for being with us to day. i want to focus a little bit on the -- something that was noted by the president's bipartisan fiscal commission having to do with the class act which was a part of one of the offsets of paid for the health care bill. and it was viewed as financially unsound by many experts and the commission recommends significant reforming or repealing the class program. i'm concerned that the budget did not propose changes and i guess my question is do you agree with your a5:ctuary and tt it is near failure and need to repeal it? >> yes, senator. i do agree with the reform or repeal which is why we were pleased to have been given administrative flexibility in the law while the law outlined a framework for the class act, we determined pretty quickly that it would not meet the requirement that the act be self-sustaining and not rely on taxpayer investments. so we have made a series of program changes already in terms of eligibility requirements, the wage possibilities. we're modelling very carefully w

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

i sent a letter to secretary sebelius this week asking her to provide for us what direction she was going to take in light of the ruling. i'll submit that for the record. but i thank the gentleman for bringing this limiting amendment to the floor today. it is critically important that this congress act to limit the implementation of this very flawed health care law. let's get back to the work the american people asked us to do in the election. i yield back to the gentleman. the chair: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentlewoman from the connecticut. ms. delauro: three minutes to the gentleman from california, mr. miller. the chair: the gentleman from california is recognized for three minutes. mr. miller: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the chair: without objection. mr. miller: i thank the gentlewoman for yielding me this time. the author of this amendment said a few minutes ago that this was a very simple and straightforward amendment. and that's probably true for members of congress. who have government paid health insurance, have policies that are looked

earlier this month, secretary sebelius wrote to governors outlining ways money could be saved by cutting optional benefits including dental and vision care, prescription drugs, physical therapy and respiratory services. cindy mann is deputy administrator of the center for medicare and medicaid services. >> what we're trying to make clear is that states have lots of choices and we are really wanting to be able to help them think through what those choices are determine what choice might make most sense for their program and then to process that quickly for them to the extent that it's an action that we able to take. >> reporter: betlach and medicaid officials in other states say they're doing a number of these things already. >> there's a menu of items that are offered in terms of the types of changes the states should be looking at in terms of their programs. but these are things we've been doing for a number of years, to try to manage our resources to the greatest extent possible. >> reporter: this week, the administration went even further than it had before. it said arizona officials

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

secretary sebelius commented on questions i had about the affordable care at. she says the affordable care act is based on the belief that the states understand their health care system better than anyone else. i believe that is true. what we are a democrat or republican governors, we know our states better than anyone at the federal level. i would echo what rick scott has been saying. we would love to have a block make so that we could allocations the way we see fit. i have a comment on the procedure here. one of the things we are willing to do? i followed up with the number of governors. after the discussion, i am willing to follow up with each of the governors on this panel individually collect a list of specific flexibility and try to figure out if there is any sort of consensus on that. the question is, what is our next step? what do we ask the pharaoh government for? for us right -- what do we ask the federal government for? there are provider pay rate changes. many of us would like to have the stability, if not a block grant, then some flexibility. >> i

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 sebelius, thank you for being with us to day. i want to focus a little bit on the -- something that was noted by the president's bipartisan fiscal commission having to do with the class act which was a part of one of the offsets of paid for the health care bill. and it was viewed as financially unsound by many experts and the commission recommends significant reforming or repealing the class program. i'm concerned that the budget did not propose changes and i guess my question is do you agree with your a5:ctuary and tt it is near failure and need to repeal it? >> yes, senator. i do agree with the reform or repeal which is why we were pleased to have been given administrative flexibility in the law while the law outlined a framework for the class act, we determined pretty quickly that it would not meet the requirement that the act be self-sustaining and not rely on taxpayer investments. so we have made a series of program changes already in terms of eligibility requirements, the wage possibilities. we're modelling very carefully w

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

in the budget season where various committee -- various cabinet secretaries, including secretary sebelius of dhhs, coming to the hill. is there any lobbying or pressure that an organization like yours is putting on.com was or on senators to put this back in the budget -- on congress or on senators to put this back in the budget? guest: we are not a lobbying group, so we do not do that. but there is the national association of children's hospitals that is a lobby group and is providing perspective on the hill and the impact that some of these cuts would have on our children's hospitals. children's hospitals are fairly new. it has only been in the last several decades. for many years we treated them as little adults. the fascinating thing that you learn when you tore our children's hospitals -- when you to work our children's hospitals it is a radically different health care. host: nyc, new york, on our line , go ahead.dencts turn down your television, ok? caller: thank you for having me on. my cousin is a pediatrician in india and she is now and in -- an anesthesiologist. i cannot believe

secretary sebelius commented on questions i had about the affordable care at. she says the affordable care act is based on the belief that the states understand their health care system better than anyone else. i believe that is true. what we are a democrat or republican governors, we know our states better than anyone at the federal level. i would echo what rick scott has been saying. we would love to have a block make so that we could allocations the way we see fit. i have a comment on the procedure here. one of the things we are willing to do? i followed up with the number of governors. after the discussion, i am willing to follow up with each of the governors on this panel individually collect a list of specific flexibility and try to figure out if there is any sort of consensus on that. the question is, what is our next step? what do we ask the pharaoh government for? for us right -- what do we ask the federal government for? there are provider pay rate changes. many of us would like to have the stability, if not a block grant, then some flexibility. >> i

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

secretary sebelius sent out a report that said, we arknow you are going bankrupt from medicaid. here are some solutions for you to cut your costs. it was hard to keep a straight face as i read the letter. if you are in this area, you have the scope day -- this area, this copiague. there is no way a hospital could interpret that. you need to have a bottom-up approach, not top down. host: under this new law, medicaid will be expanded starting in 2014. the expansion of this will be fully covered by the government, the cost. in later years, the federal matching rate will decline slightly but will remain well above the regular medicaid matching rate at 94%. so the government will be picking up about 90% of the tab for medicaid. then this issue of the states having to pay for it will go away, right? guest: absolutely not. there are currently those who but not enrolled, and that will be a huge cost expansion. even if the government picks up 90%, it is still $2 billion. for the government, it is not that much, but let's take a look at california. california has a $25 billion deficit app

in the budget season where various committee -- various cabinet secretaries, including secretary sebeliusdhhs, coming to the hill. is there any lobbying or pressure that an organization like yours is putting on.com was or on senators to put this back in the budget -- on congress or on senators to put this back in the budget? guest: we are not a lobbying group, so we do not do that. but there is the national association of children's hospitals that is a lobby group and is providing perspective on the hill and the impact that some of these cuts would have on our children's hospitals. children's hospitals are fairly new. it has only been in the last several decades. for many years we treated them as little adults. the fascinating thing that you learn when you tore our children's hospitals -- when you to work our children's hospitals it is a radically different health care. host: nyc, new york, on our line , go ahead.dencts turn down your television, ok? caller: thank you for having me on. my cousin is a pediatrician in india and she is now and in -- an anesthesiologist. i cannot believe how

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

governor brewer recently made a from formal request from the hhs secretary sebelius for a waiverfrom mai from the maintenancentenan of effort gr provision. waive since the administration granted over 700 weavers to companies and lab unior onunions ones, can only hope the same fairness will be provided provided to the states who are much more crucial part first to govern the federal government in the delery delivery of health care. under the terms of the requestld arizona would preserve medicaidzonans coverage for 1 million arizonans who represent the core of th medicaid's mission. pregna the disabled a blond, pregnant i women and children.nor' i support the governor's request and i would urge the administration to grant the waiver. but ultimately madameaw president, only repeal of this law would provide permanent relief to all of the state's oth like arizona and all of the so other states similarly situated.uppo so irt am strongly in support of provide the amendment that provides for wit h a repeal and replacement with something that will work andamilies, will not punish our families

i sent a letter to secretary sebelius this week asking her to provide for us what direction she was going to take in light of the ruling. i'll submit that for the record. but i thank the gentleman for bringing this limiting amendment to the floor today. it is critically important that this congress act to limit the implementation of this very flawed health care law. let's get back to the work the american people asked us to do in the election. i yield back to the gentleman. the chair: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentlewoman from the connecticut. ms. delauro: three minutes to the gentleman from california, mr. miller. the chair: the gentleman from california is recognized for three minutes. mr. miller: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the chair: without objection. mr. miller: i thank the gentlewoman for yielding me this time. the author of this amendment said a few minutes ago that this was a very simple and straightforward amendment. and that's probably true for members of congress. who have government paid health insurance, have policies that are looked

you don't have to believe us, goodness gracious, 21 governors have sent a letter to secretary sebelius and they want the freedom to decide which insurers offer the products in their states. if that were true it would mean the federal government is offering it. they're asking for waiving the costly mandate which means, mr. chairman the mandates are crushing the state across this great land. and they've asked for waiving the provisions that discriminate against all sorts of plans. remember, mr. chairman, that you won't be able to keep what you like. you won't be able to keep what you like. so this is pretty simple. the government -- these folks want the government to be in charge of our health care, these forget want patients to be in charge of our health care. we come down on the side of the patients. support the amendment. yield back. the chair: the gentleman from colorado. mr. gardner: thank you. i would urge adoption of the amendment to defund the exchanges. as a former state legislator, the legislatures i've talked to urge the same thing i've spoken to, defund exchanges and this bil

this week looking at the budget, starting today with health and human services secretary, cath len sebelius. she will discuss her department's budget before the senate finance committee at 2:30 eastern. tomorrow, defense secretary robert gates and joint chiefs chairman mike mull ledge before the house armed services committee. that starts at 10:00 a.m. eastern. thursday, homeland security secretary janet napolitano at the homeland security committee. that begins at 2:0. you can see all these hearings live this week on our companion network, c-span3. >> the come to order. i'm going to submit my written statement for the record and will not make an opening statement and i will recognize members on our side until our 10 minutes is expired. i urge members to give a brief statement or submit a written statement so that we can move along. we will adhere to the 10 minutes on each side. without objection all members written statements will be made a part of the record. i want to welcome our witnesses and look forward to your testimony. and with that, i recognize the ranking member for his opening s

in the budget season where various committee -- various cabinet secretaries, including secretary sebelius of dhhs, coming to the hill. is there any lobbying or pressure that an organization like yours is putting on.com was or on senators to put this back in the budget -- on congress or on senators to put this back in the budget? guest: we are not a lobbying group, so we do not do that. but there is the national association of children's hospitals that is a lobby group and is providing perspective on the hill and the impact that some of these cuts would have on our children's hospitals. children's hospitals are fairly new. it has only been in the last several decades. for many years we treated them as little adults. the fascinating thing that you learn when you tore our children's hospitals -- when you to work our children's hospitals it is a radically different health care. host: nyc, new york, on our line , go ahead.dencts turn down your television, ok? caller: thank you for having me on. my cousin is a pediatrician in india and she is now and in -- an anesthesiologist. i cannot believe

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

secretary sebelius for a waiver from maintenance of effort provision. since the administration has granted over 700 waivers to companies and labor unions, one can only hope that the same fairness will be provided to states who are much more crucial partners to the federal government in the delivery of health care. under the terms of the waiver request, arizona would preserve medicaid consequently for 1 million arizonans who represent the core of medicaid's mission. the aged, disabled, the blind, pregnant women, and children. i support the governor's request and i had urged the administration to grant the waiver. but ultimately, madam president, only repeal of this law will provide permanent relief to all of the states like arizona and all of the other states similarly situated. so i am strongly in support of the amendment that provides for repeal and replacement with something that will work and will not punish our families, our recess dents -- reserve ress and our states. the presiding officer: the senator from new york. mr. schumer: thank you, madam p

both doctors and hospitals as well as written guarantees from health and human services secretary sebelius for further action to reform medicare reimbursement rates. this great achievement is wiped out with if the mcconnell amendt passes. in addition, thanks to the new lawmakers mid-sized hospitals in iowa -- we call them the so-called tweeners. they're not big enough to have economies of scale. they're not small enough to be put into the small-hospital category. they're sort of in between. but they are important providers of health care to so many communities in iowa and other states around the nation. well, thanks to the new law, we'll see greater medicare reimbursement to these mid-sized hospitals in iowa and other states. the two-year fix will cover fiscal years 2011 and 2012. it will aid these low-volume hospitals, some of which have struggled to keep their doors open. the fix was included in the new health reform lawmakers the affordable care act. at the heart of the reform mission was an effort to decrease the number of uninsured and increase access, access to affordable care. the l

secretary sebelius is guiding the implementation of the historic affordable care act. she also is at the forefront of the obama administration's efforts to build a 21st century health care system for putting a new focus on prevention to promoting electronic health records to expanding the primary care work force. the partners across the cabinet, she has launched new efforts to make government work better for the american people, including working with secretary vilsack to build a 2112 century food safety system and new guidelines to be announced here today. throughout his distinguished career in public service as mayor, state senator, and governor of iowa, secretary vilsack has had a remarkable record of making positive change in the lives of those who he has served. in the past two years usda supported struggling farmers and ranchers, provided food aid to one in four americans, and implemented the recovery act to create jobs and build a foundation for future economic growth. under secretary vilsack's leadership, usda is working to conserve america's forests and privat

and welcome to you, secretary sebeli sebelius. as you know, one area where there is significant bipartisan support is basement reform. and what i'm concerned about is the department seems to be moving ahead now with a rule for coding the billing process which looks to me like it's moving in exactly the opposite direction. that's it's movmoving, in effec to prop up fee for service. and aye heai've heard providers people that they're up in arms about it, their estimates that this could cost $30 billion to $40 billion. and their argument is essentially that it's like using world war ii military hardware for today's threat. now, there are 150,000 of these codes. it's something called icd-10. i don't want to get into all root canal-type discussion you're going to have to have for billing codes. but my question to you is, why not junk this process that has generated so much hostility, save the money, and i gather from experts could bd, like, $30 billion to $40 billion, and move on to payment reform which you're for and there's strong bi