Kathleen Sebelius to Resign HHS Post, to be Replaced by OMB Director Sylvia Burwell

Kathleen Sebelius to Resign HHS Post, to be Replaced by OMB Director Sylvia Burwell
Dr. Susan Berry

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will resign her post following an extremely flawed rollout of President Obama’s signature health care reform law. Sebelius is expected to be replaced by current Office of Management and Budget Director, Sylvia Burwell.

Regarding Sebelius’ resignation, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) tweeted, “We don’t need resignations. We need a #Full Repeal.”

According to the Washington Times, Sebelius’ departure comes as the Obama administration and the Democrat Party attempt to move beyond the botched rollout of the unpopular health law. ObamaCare’s enrollment period ended March 31, and while the administration claims it enrolled more than 7.5 million people into health plans under the new law, many have argued that number is wildly exaggerated.

The Wall Street Journal reports that President Obama is expected to announce on Friday that Sebelius will be replaced by recently appointed OMB Director Sylvia Burwell, a graduate of Harvard and Oxford Universities who worked in the Clinton administration and was an associate at consulting firm McKinsey & Co.

In 1993, Burwell helped future Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin set up the newly created National Economic Council in the White House.

Burwell later became a key aide to Microsoft founder Bill Gates. Burwell served as both chief operating officer and head of the global development program at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which has been the primary private source of funding for the development and implementation of the highly controversial Common Core centralized academic standards.

Burwell also served as president of the Wal-Mart Foundation before being recruited to serve in the Obama administration.

Though Burwell is considered to have maintained a low profile as OMB Director, NBC News announced at the start of October of last year that Burwell was the lone person who shut down the entire U.S. government for the first time in 17 years.

“Not a congressman, but an unelected woman named Sylvia Burwell who, as the relatively new director of the Office of Management and Budget, sent the email that initiated the process that has closed national parks, visitors’ centers and even the ‘panda-cam’ at the National Zoo,” NBC News said.

“We urge Congress to act quickly to pass a Continuing Resolution to provide a short-term bridge that ensures sufficient time to pass a budget for the remainder of the fiscal year,” Burwell wrote in a memo to heads of executive departments when a budget deal had not been reached.

“Sylvia’s experience managing billion-dollar global budgets, combined with her leadership on domestic fiscal policy in the 90’s, make her a uniquely qualified candidate to lead OMB,” Senate Budget Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-WA) said of Burwell last summer.

“She became an extremely skilled negotiator,” said John Podesta. “Everyone who works with her really admires her, not only her intelligence and depth of her knowledge on federal budget matters, but also her organizational talents.”

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