WASHINGTON – Republicans blistered Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on Wednesday over the nation's controversial health care law, bluntly challenging her honesty, pushing for her resignation and demanding unsuccessfully she concede that President Obama deliberately misled the public about his signature domestic program.
"We're not in it to just give you a rough time. We're in it to try and hopefully get it right," said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, at a hearing where Republicans — all of whom had voted against the health care law — focused on the program's flawed sign-up website as well as costs, policy cancellations, security concerns and other issues.
'Still quite ferocious'
During two hours in the Senate Finance Committee witness chair, Sebelius parried some thrusts and listened impassively to others. She said at one point: "Clearly the opposition is still quite ferocious, and I'm just hoping that people understand what their options are, what their benefits could be and what their opportunities are."
She offered few if any concessions about a program she pointedly observed "passed both houses of Congress, was signed by the president and upheld by the Supreme Court."
Nor did she provide much in the way of new information about the launch of a website that she has conceded was deeply flawed. She disclosed that the so-called punch list for repairs had included "a couple of hundred functional fixes" at the time the administration launched its urgent rescue mission last month.
She said the Web portal now is handling large volumes of material with fewer errors. However, as she testified, the website, www.healthcare.gov, was running sluggishly.
Rather than ask Sebelius questions, Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas — who faces a Tea Party challenger in a bid for re-election next year — used his time to raise complaints about the law and her performance as the administration official in charge.
"Your main goal should have been to protect Americans, to lessen their risk and to ensure their safety," he said. "You have said America should hold you for — accountable, which is why today, Madam Secretary, I repeat my request for you to resign."
'Get this done'
Meanwhile, Obama traveled to the heart of the opposition to the health car law on Wednesday to give a pep talk to the law's supporters. In Dallas, he assured volunteers that their efforts to sign people up for coverage would be well worth the trouble. "As challenging as this may seem sometimes, as frustrating as healthcare.gov may be sometimes, we are going to get his done," Obama said.
Before leaving Washington, Obama met with 16 Democratic senators facing re-election in 2014 to discuss the troubled website rollout. They pressed him to extend the March 31 enrollment deadline, but White House press secretary Jay Carney rejected the idea.
