. >>> there was a huge bipartisan support for sylvia matthews burwell as the new health and human services close. the vote was 78-17. and before the vote, senator minority leader mitch mcconnell took to the floor to talk about her qualify fi cases. -- qualifications. >> by most accounts, sylvia burwell is a smart, skilled and smart public servant. >> so that must have meant he voted for her, right? wrong. >> her support for obamacare calls her judgment into question. they shouldn't focus on finding a captain for the titanic. it should be focused on steering away from the iceberg. we need to focus on repealing and replacing this law. >> so he voted against her confirmation because he thinks the affordable care act needs to be replaced? he's not even pretending he's not an obstructionist anymore. not to mention, last year mcconnell voted to confirm burwell as the head of the president's budget office. >> senator is voting in the affirmative. mccain, mcconnell. >> so just 14 months ago, mcconnell thought she was a great choice to oversee one agency, but now that she's in charge of the afforda

president obama and the veep meet with the new hhs boss, sylvia matthews burwell. and a little nascar at the white house. jimmy johnson. i thought we should be honoring the other jimmy johnson, shouldn't we? you're watching "the daily rundown" only on msnbc. to map their manufacturings at process with sticky notes and string, yeah, they were a little bit skeptical. what they do actually is rocket science. high tech components for aircraft and fighter jets. we're just their bankers, right? but financing from ge capital also comes with expertise from across ge. in this case, our top lean process engineers. so they showed us who does what, when, and where. then we hit them with the important question: why? why put the tools over there? do you really need those five steps? what if you can do it in two? whoo, that's an interesting question. ideas for improvement started pouring out. with a little help from us, they actually doubled their output speed. a hundred percent bump in efficiency. if you just need a loan, just call a bank. but at ge capital, we're builders. and

sylvia matthew burwell understands that as well as anybody i know. she is demonstrated that in her leadership at omb. i hope that my colleagues democrat and republican will follow the leadership of senator tom coburn republican from almost -- oklahoma and a swingman tom carper democrat from delaware who is supporting this nomination. with that i yield back the floor and i note the absence of a quorum. cbs this afternoon we are going to vote on the nomination of ms. burwell to be secretary of hhs. i'm going to support that nomination. i take the floor now to other people to some problems that i think she is going to face and hopefully she can correct them. .. em. it's our responsibility to make sure that those are enforced according to the intent of congress. when they aren't, we have a responsibility to point that out. that's what i will be doing. and i hope that these things i point out along with what other colleagues will be saying this morning, she will be able to correct. but we also have a situation but we also have a situation we also have a s

sylvia matthew burwell understands that as well as anybody i know. she is demonstrated that in her leadership at omb. i hope that my colleagues democrat and republican will follow the leadership of senator tom coburn republican from almost -- oklahoma and a i thank my colleague. i served as a ranking member of the budget committee and have worked with mrs. burwell as, just 13 months, i think, she served in the tremendously important position of director of office of management and budget. i do not believe that she is the, has the background, the qualities and experience proven managerial leadership required at that huge department of health and human services. she has 500 people working in the budget office, and that's an important office. over 70,000. she once served on a board of a local hospital. she just simply is not the person that we need today to bring order out of a disarray that we have in the health care system of this country and the total collapse of integrity and consistency in the implementation of obamacare. and there are a couple of

challenges including some comments made by my colleague from louisiana and then talk about sylvia matthews burwell. of the eight million americans who have used the exchanges to access health insurance, over 116,000 of them are virginians. in ause to the eight million, three million more people have been enrolled in medicaid or chip as of february, compared -- in addition to the marketplaces opened, and those medicaid chip expansions were because of the affordable care act provisions. in addition, an estimation of 3.1 million young adults have gained coverage by being able to stay on family policies until age 26. the combined numbers just in this expansion of coverage is now more than 14 million americans. mr. president, let me put that in context. one year in, 14 million americans have insurance through the a.c.a. that is more than the total population of the following states -- west virginia, idaho, hawaii, new hampshire, montana, delaware, south dakota, north dakota, vermont and wyoming. one year in, more people have insurance through the a.c.a. than the combined populations, entire populations

sylvia matthews burwell. -- but the point i'm trying to make is with obamacare, nothing is going to alter. we're headed for socialized medicine. obamacare is the president's legacy. the president will unilaterally change what suits him best. the hardworking taxpayers who are paying for this law in large part from the 21 tax increases contained in it have a right to some answers. that's right. i said 21 tax increases. just some of these taxes include the following. the individual mandate tax where you have to pay the government for not having insurance, even if you can't afford it. the employer mandate tax where your employer pays a tax because they may have chosen to forgo providing insurance to their employees instead of having to lay off workers. the health insurance tax which will be passed along to individuals in the form of higher premiums. the medical device tax. i could go on and on. many of these taxes have bipartisan support to be repealed, but we can't even get a vote on those. with a $1.8 trillion price tag, this bill is so far-reaching that it is difficult to find a federal ag

i can tell you you have a terrific partner in the new hhs secretary, sylvia matthews bu e burwe burwellhe is committed to making sure our effort continues in the strongest way possible but i am always reminded as i think about this effort of dr. king's famous words, it bends toward justice. you all have done an amazing job bending that arc much further than it has ever been before in the history of this country. you have done something no one has had a chance to do before, you have not only worked to pass comprehensive health coverage but you have now connected people with comprehensive health coverage and financial security. you are on the frontlines of history and making a huge difference for individuals, communities and this country and for that, thank you very, very much. [applause] [applause] >> thank you all for being here. let's get the entire panel. [applause] >> a group of leaders, so much to make this moment possible. we have 25 minutes to have a conversation which i am looking forward to. i want to start with you, secretary. people often talk about two distinct moments. the d

sylvia mathews burwell as secretary. you voted no on a procedural motion earlier this week and you proposed kathleen sibelius as her predecessor. how would you explain your vote this week to confirm ms. matthews? >> i met with her, i think she is competent, capable, and the best person that we can have in that position. i am continuing to vote in opposition to what he has done their will where he has taken away the rights of the minority party on nominations. the issue at hand was the specifics of the health care law as it continues on a daily basis to hurt many americans. i hear the stories every weekend in wyoming from my folks at home. i practice medicine there for 25 years. people know me as a friend and a doctor as well as a senator. for people of that helped by the law, i would say that there are many more that have been hurt as a result of the health care law. in all of these exchanges around the country that are failing, there are hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars wasted. she will try to go after that to the full extent of the law. i do not think it is strong enough, and i have introduced a piece of legislation. i still think that the health care law as written, where many memb

manchin: madam president, i come today and i'm honored to support my friend, sylvia matthews burwell. sylvia is a native of west virginia and i always said this, we are all products of our environment. and if you know where sylvia came from, the type of family she was raised in, the neighborhood, her friends, it will tell you everybody about who she is today and why she's been so successful and why public service runs through her veins. truly giving something back. the little you want to of hinton, west virginia, is where sylvia's from. it's in the southern part of the state. she's right on the new river. it's a train town. trains would come there and dispatch and they would turn them around and get them going in the right direction. so i'll never forget when they were introducing sylvia and i think it was senator alexander was speaking, and he was talking about his father who worked in the rail yard and he was always responsible for turning the trains and getting them moving. and i said, well, one thing about it, sylvia comes from a train town. she knows how to get the train on the t