Daschle will be secretary of HHSFormer Senator Majority leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) will be secretary of Health and Human Services in the Obama administration, with the delicate mission of shepherding a health-care bill through Congress at a time of punishing budget constraints, a senior Democratic official said.
Daschle was also considered for health care czar in the White House, but President-elect Obama’s transition team decided he could be more effective with “Secretary” in front of his name.
“Of all the proposals that Obama wants to enact, health care requires the most input and tough negotiations,” the official said. “No one knows the House and Senate like Tom Daschle.”
Daschle, one of Obama’s most prominent early supporters during the Democratic primaries, was also considered for White House chief of staff before that post when to Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.).
Daschle, who will be 61 next month, will focus on what the official called the “30,000-foot” part of the job, with powerful deputies handling day-to-day matters. “He’s going to do the broader perspective,” the official said.
Daschle also served eight years in the House. He was Senate majority leader from 2001 to 2003, when Republicans regained the Senate majority. His official biography says: “During his tenure as Leader, Daschle co-managed only the second impeachment trial of a U.S. president, led the Senate in response to the attacks of September 11th, 2001 and the anthrax attack on his office one month later.
Daschle is a special public policy adviser in the Washington office of the law firm Alston and Bird. His biography adds: “Born in Aberdeen, South Dakota, Senator Daschle attended South Dakota State University and graduated in 1969. Following college, he served for three years as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Air Force Strategic Command. After military service, he spent five years as an aide to South Dakota Senator James Abourezk.”
Roll Call first reported Daschle’s selection at HHS.
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