chairman, and secretary sebelius. look sebelius, i look forward to a fruitful dialogue and i look forward to chatting with you. >> thank you so much, senator. i would like to turn to our honored guest and witness, secretary sebelius. madame scare, you know the drill. your statement's automatically included and we urge you to tell us what you want. you know, candid, direct, and take your time. not too much, but i'll give you enough time so you can say what you want to say. >> well, thank you very much, chairman bacchus, senator hatch, and members of the committee. i look forward to the opportunity to discuss the president's 2013 budget for the department of health and human services. our budget helps to create an american economy that's built to last by strengthening our nation's health care, supporting research that will lead to tomorrow's treatments and cures, and promoting opportunity for america's children and families, so everyone has a fair shot to reach their full potential. it makes the investments we need righ

kathleen sebelius will join me live here on cnn.o today, we're honoring the first cnn hero of 2012. an every day person changing the world. his name is scott strode. after beating his addiction to drugs and alcohol, he used sports to fill the void left behind and what works for scott is now helping hundreds of others stay sober while experiencing a healthy high. >> i get on my bike and go ride up in the mountains. it really just brings peace and in my drug and alcohol use, it was the opposite. i got into it pretty young. by the time i was 15, i was using pretty serious drugs. when i got sober, i lost my group of friends because they were still out drinking and using. i got into boxing, triathlon. climbing. i had this new group of friends. i completely redefined myself. i want to help people find a better life being sober. welcome to friday night climbing. it's good to see you here. we offer about 50 events a week. all the programs are free to anyone who has 48 hours sober. you see that you're capable of whatever you put your mind to

with the discussions that the president really didn't have any choice but to stand by secretary sebelius, and these are policies that he believes in and the whole health care law falls apart if you don't, you know, if you create the, you know, broad exemptions that beyond sort of churches and houses of worship. the concern on the other side and it would be simplistic to say that it is like girls against the boys or that the catholics were dead set against this, but it is not so much that as they had a concern that there could be an effect, a political effect, and an effect of just sort of disenfranchising or frustrating devout catholics who felt like this was putting the church in a box. >> well, let's get to that argument, because as i said, catholics around the country, if they attended services saturday or sunday, and hearing from the bishops and talking about the policy side of this, but on the political sidef tho, the catholic church is opposed to abortion and opposed to contraceptive contraceptives and this is being viewed rightly or wrongly as government intrusion into catholic be

on january 20, when this decision was announced, secretary sebelius said "we will continue to work with religious bridge during this transition to discuss their concerns. the 28 states have similar contraception coverage requirements. some states do not even have the exemption which this provision requires our churches and houses of worship. we want to work to implement this policy in a way that is sensitive to their concerns. let us be clear -- we are committed to ensuring that women have access to contraception without paying any extra cost, no matter where they work. >> while you are planning to work with the groups who have concerns, congress, at least the house, are planning to undo the role. >> right now we are focused on the implementation of this rule and doing what we said. on january 28 when secretary sebelius announced it -- we will work with those concerned to see if there is a way to implement the policy to make sure women everywhere have the same level of health care coverage and the same access to preventive coverage, but to do it in a way that would allay some of these c

sebelius, valerie jarret and michelle. it's becoming "the view." what is next?ll have lamase classes there. this many women in president's ear since clinton. >> kimberly: okay. all ears. >> bob: do you have any idea how much response you'll get from what you just said? >> greg: which part? >> kimberly: let's not rehash it. >> bob: don't want to go over it. >> eric: still trying to figure it out. >> kimberly: listen to the highlight reel. >> andrea: aside from the knock-knock joke that went over like a lead balloon -- >> eric: i thought it was great. >> andrea: brought up a number of democrats speaking out on this. what is interesting is speaker boehner came out and said look, if they are not going to renege, we pass something to house of representatives and do it legislatively. i think this is a huge problem for the democrats. because something like this, can't be a birth control, ban for everybody. has to do with religious freedom. if they pass it through the house it will pass unanimously and force the conservative senators that are democrats from missouri lik

kathleen sebelius, mark may be right.ember that every cabinet member including kathleen sebelius acts as the pleasure of the president. >> but he made it before bishop dolan. >> do you think it's okay. >> i think they are pushing the church. >> sean: it's an opportunity for the church to change the mandate. >> and also protect women's health. >> sean: so protecting women's health is more important than freedom of religion? >> yes. >> sean: even they though they are going against the values? >> 91% of women have relied on contraception. >> sean: what about the church's right to freedom to practice as they choose? >> it is the point because we're empowering talking about the government doing it. government has no business in any of this. this is not in the constitution. this is so far out. >> sean: we think we're better than the catholic church and we're in touch with it and we're going to force you the role of government is force women to change. >> i said the roam of government is enforce the will of the people and great

kathleen sebelius testifying on behalf of the president and his budget plan for 2013. taking questions from among others senator orrin hatch, a republican from utah, member of the senate finance committee, and of course a lot of attention on last friday's announcement of a modification which allows religiously affiliated employers to shift contraceptive costs to insurance companies, part of the compromise or accommodation as the white house put it but still getting sharp questions from members of congress. senator hatch, who is up for re-election this year, posing questions to hhs secretary kathleen sebelius. >> in his statement on friday addressing the supposed compromise on this mandate, president obama said, quote, from the very beginning of this process i spoke directly to various catholic officials, unquote. now prior to friday, february 10th, did you consult with any individual catholic bishop or the u.s. conference of catholic bishops approximate this so-called compromise? >> i did not speak to the catholic bishops. >> okay. that's all i want to know. to your kn

secretary kathleen sebelius joins me now from washington. it was just broken, what was the determing factor that made this statement made today and why didn't the white house foresee this backlash? >> i think that we said from the outset is, two weeks ago when i said we would finalize the rule around the exemption was proposed, that we would work for a year, reaching out on stakeholders and reaching out to other religious employers who had an objection to directly offering contraception, the president said this fire storm is out there and we need to make sure that at theç end of the d have these health benefits for women. 99% of women use birth control at some point in their lives and they should have availability regardless of where they work, so the president said speed up the process and we did just that. >> it's likely that the bishops will not accept this either. are you going to keep compromising to satisfy that constituentsy or is this the bottom line? >> no, the final rule will be pu

on february of 2011, secretary sebelius testified before the senate finance committee that the class program is totally unsustainable in its present form. and finally, this past october the department announced that the program was still not financially feasible. what we are seeing now as well intended as it is, the class program is unworkable. the objective of providing long-term health care is laudable and should be a priority of congress. therefore we must identify long-term commonsense solution for our health care. that is why last week i asked g.a.o. to conduct a study on the medicaid long-term care partnership program and survey states on how to improve the partnership program so that more americans can properly plan for their long-term care needs. this public-private partnership between states and long care insurance plans were designed to reduce medicaid expenditures by lessening the need of some people to rely on medicaid to pay for long-term health care. the partnership program is not the only solution to our long-term health care, but it is a helpful tool to help americans

>> i don't think secretary sebelius considers herself a nominal catholic as you say.it was a little -- [everyone talking at once] >> slashing romney? >> i think she's pro-choice on abortion. how about cue be that and be a traditionalist catholic? >> she's pro-choice, out of a lot of catholics are. and i point out that the institutes for medicine which ruled that contraceptives are part of preventive health care, is responsible for similar laws in 28 of our states. >> all the -- [everyone talking at once] >> catholic church go back 2,000 years. >> when can comes to institutions, on the base of what authority does the institute of medicine trump the longstanding, moral teaching of the catholic church he it comes to what catholic institutions -- should do? >> when you put on a collar you can come back and lecture me but that's enough. that's enough. >> what about the is this time obama is trampling on gods's turf. >> oh, please! >> can he get out by moving to the insurance company? >> you just saw, that's a partial capitulation which is not enough but -- >> not enough? w

on february of 2011, secretary sebelius testified before the senate finance committee that the class program is totally unsustainable in its present form. and finally, this past october the department announced that the program was still not financially feasible. what we are seeing now as well intended as it is, the class program is unworkable. the objective of providing long-term health care is laudable and should be a priority of congress. therefore we must identify long-term commonsense solution for our health care. that is why last week i asked g.a.o. to conduct a study on the medicaid long-term care partnership program and survey states on how to improve the partnership program so that more americans can properly plan for their long-term care needs. this public-private partnership between states and long care insurance plans were designed to reduce medicaid expenditures by lessening the need of some people to rely on medicaid to pay for long-term health care. the partnership program is not the only solution to our long-term health care, but it is a helpful tool to help americans

newshour tonight, we have a newsmaker interview with health and human services secretary kathleen sebelius on the white house shift in position. >> brown: then, two countries, one big debt crisis. from greece, james mates of independent television news reports on new austerity measures, and two days of strikes in response. >> suarez: and from italy, margaret warner takes a closer look at the flagging economy of europe's second most indebted nation. >> reality was where we're going down the drain, we are going the greece way, and that will be a disaster for us and for the rest of europe, and i think for the rest of the world. >> brown: mark shields and david brooks analyze the week's news. >> suarez: and hari sreenivasan profiles china's newest english language sensation, jessica beinecke, a teacher of american slang. >> brown: that's all ahead on tonight's newshour. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: bnsf railway. >> the william and flora hewlett foundation, working to solve social and environmental problems at home and around the world. >> and with the ongoing suppor

. >> if i may, first of all, wrote kathleen sebelius wrote an op-ed and the bishops had a different takee ruling and one of the letters read to one of the parishes, friday, january 20th, 2012, will certainly stand at the moment of enormous peril for religious liberty on that day the obama administration announced regulations that would require catholic institutions providing services and goes on to say that very, very detrimental to the catholic practice and against it, no matter what sebelius said and-- >> and the broader point is, go to greg, but the broader point that they're trying to make here is not that there's a debate whether contraception should be use and a lot of women use it. the conversation is about religious liberty-- >> and i can't get why argue contraception and what sebelius said is that conception rules-- or this ruling respects religion. by using that logic the church providing abortion would be more respectful, am i right. >> i'm not sure i follow you, but-- >> and she said that-- >> doesn't make sense? >> and the rule put forward was carved out of the policy, recei

i think the one official in this administration who has is caped is kathleen sebelius.as been in the front pocket of planned parenthood back to her days of governor of kansas. she is part of some very controversial litigation. that raises questions about actions that her administration took to shred documents in a key case against planned parenthood, fraud and a case that was brought by the former attorney general there. she has had a long history of ducking personal responsibility and a lot of sunlight issues. i would take a look at that office. this is just the tip of the iceberg. >> sean: sounds like culture of corruption two. our great, great american panel what's the matter? uh, trouble with a car insurance claim. ah, claim trouble. [ dennis ] you should just switch to allstate, and get their new claim tisfaction guarantee. hey, he's right man. [ dennis ] only allstate puts their money where their mouth is. yup. [ dennis ] cla service so good, it's guaranteed. foreman ] so i can always count on them. unlike randy over there. that's one dumb dude. ♪ the new claim sa

i am not painting horns on the president or kathleen sebelius, i have defended in fact kathleen sebelius, when newt gingrich has compared her to joseph stalin. she's not trying to kill 30 million people here. i think they are clumsy and i think this is, it's been very clumsy and i, but i do believe they have crossed a dangerous line when it comes to religious liberty. and i think most fair-minded people would agree with me. >> coming up -- >> it has nothing to do with reproductive rights. >> are you done i don't have anything else to say? >> you want to check your blackberry and see if the white house is emailing you? >> coming up we'll talk to the president's senior strategist, david axelrod and senior national senior, dr. politico has details on super pac funding. >> he's against that. >> it's immoral. wait, are we all now citizens united? this is exciting! he said he was going to bring us together. >>> 27 past the hour. welcome back to "morning joe." time now for a quick look at the morning papers. from "the new york times," the obama administration a returning a major campaign donati

with sebelius and valerie variety and michelle. it's like d.c.sion of playboy mansion and he is heff. the only thing missing is bill maher and grotto. >> kimberly: and the pajamas. >> dana: as a prosecutor, you went in front of the judge. the american people is the judge today. when president obama is speaking. it's important to be very clear. and unfortunately people are still so confused, they're just like wait a second. the catholic church said we'll take time to study it and find out. do you think it holds up in the court of public opinion? >> kimberly: no. people wants to know what is going on. it seemed to me he just muddied the water and nobody is clear how it will play out. he tries to shift it to the insurance company because they are always the popular demon in any game you are playing. but even the church hasn't figured this out. and they have god on their side. listen, let's take a moment and figure out exactly what it means and what the impact is. we revenge judgment. >> dana: bob, one of the first things this morning is there will b

i think the one official in this administration who has is caped is kathleen sebelius.ocket of planned parenthood back to her days of governor of kansas. she is part of some very controversial litigation. that raises questions about actions that her administration took to shred documents in a key case against planned parenthood, fraud and a case that was brought by the former attorney general there. she has had a long history of ducking personal responsibility and a lot of sunlight issues. i would take a look at that office. this is just the tip of the iceberg. >> sean: sounds like culture of corruption two. our great, great american panel is coming up straight ahead. @@ if something is simply the color of gold, is it really worth more? we don't think so. chase sapphire preferred is a card of a different color. that's because you always get two times the points on travel, from taxis to trains, airfare to hotels, and all kinds of dining... from fast food to fine dining. and that's not all you get. there are expert advisors who answer immediately, whenever you call. and

obama buys this sebelius argument and therefore we have the controversy we have now. my question is for a guy who knows that catholics voted for him in 2008, he has got to know this is -- this is a loser and i believe he is going to retract himself on it. >> he is going to have to walk it back in some way, no doubt about it i think it will happen probably like late on a friday is when they usually drop that type of news. bill, there is some reporting today that indicated there was a gender difference in the white house. so, women kind of lined up for, quote, women's rights, which is a hilarious way of framing it. but it's all -- you know, valerie jarrett, kathleen sebelius and perhaps even the first lady who. >> bill: we don't want to speculate that. >> we don't want -- one thing we know she has not shied away from giving her views on policies and politics in the past. >> bill: not fair to put her in any category at all. you are right that it was framed as a argument against women's rights. all right, now, you are a woman. you have a right to go to any clinic you want

kathleen sebelius will testify about the new rule in a hearing on capitol hill. that brings us to your answers to our water cooler question of the day. >> this morning we asked -- what do you think of the mandate that all employers, including religious institutions, provide access to birth control in their health care coverage? >> we will post more of your answers on the front page of wbaltv.com. >> now traffic pulse 11 and insta-weather plus together. >> time to get you up to date on your morning commute. on the west side, that is the t.aviest bouspo we have some delays and we're down to 15 miles per hour. in the eastbound is not affected. nothing happening at 29. 63 traveling southbound on 95 through howard county. 97 in pretty good shape. no problems on 100 at this time. this is 795. southbound traffic getting heavier as you get closer to owings mills as a result of the west side delays. this is the pace of things down from 795 towards edmondson. that is the latest on traffic pulse 11. let's get the latest from ava marie joining us from the 1st mariner arena.

as i said yesterday, on january 20th, when this decision was announced, secretary sebelius said, quote, we'll continue to work closely with religious gripes during this transitional period to discuss their concerns and i would note that 28 states have similar contraception coverage requirements. and aided states, as i mentioned before, do not even have exemption that this church requires for houses of worship. we want to work with all organizations to implement the policy in a way that's as sensitive to their concerns as possible. but let's be clear, we are committed, the president is committed to ensuring that women have access to contraception without paying any extra cost wherever they are. >> while you're planning to work with the groups that have concerns, the congress or at least the house, is pledging to undo the rule. what's your reaction to that? >> right now we're focused on implementation of this rule and doing what we said back on january 20th, when secretary sebelius announced it which was, work with those that have concerns osi if there's a way to implement this policy to

why did sebelius do this?olitical here and not take sides on this though i do have a side. i think i do. i'm not sure actually. let me ask you this. why did they do it in the middle of an election year when you have a third or quarter of the country catholic and they are the swing voters? a lot of the other ethnic groups and religions are pretty much identified with a party. catholics tend to swing back and forth. they are the reagan democrats, the people that make up their mind maybe two weeks before an election. you know? these are tricky voters. >> yeah. absolutely. i think they had a good goal in mind which is in my view expanded contraceptive coverage is a good thing. the problem is they've struck the wrong balance here on religious liberty. we shouldn't in my view require objecting religious employers to pay for and offer their employees a plan that they preach against every -- >> jay carney is trying to explain, i think a tough job for jay, explaining the reasoning for this mandate in yesterday's white