Sen. Whitehouse named to key health-care panel
01:00 AM EDT on Thursday, May 7, 2009
BY JOHN E. MULLIGAN
Journal Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse has won a temporary seat on a key Senate health committee — a plum assignment at an opportune moment in President Obama’s campaign to overhaul the nation’s medical system.
The Senate put Whitehouse on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee late Tuesday, acting unanimously at the request of the majority leader, Democrat Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada.
The appointment came as the panel — under the chairmanship of Democratic Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts — nears completion of backstage work that is expected to yield a committee blueprint for comprehensive health-care legislation this spring.
The White House and its allies in Congress are pushing hard to enact a landmark retooling of the health-care system this year.
While he doesn’t know how long his appointment will last, Whitehouse said the committee will soon begin “an intense period of about two months” of efforts to get the sweeping health bill through the Senate before the August recess.
Even though the 111th Congress has been in session for about four months, committee assignments have not been finalized, largely because a court battle has kept a winner from emerging in the Minnesota election between Republican Sen. Norm Coleman and Democratic candidate Al Franken.
At least for the moment, Whitehouse’s appointment would add to Rhode Island’s potential clout on health-care issues; fellow Democrat Sen. Jack Reed is already the party’s seventh-ranking member on the panel. |
