Washington,
D.C. – Today, as the U.S. Senate considers the nomination of Governor Kathleen
Sebelius as Secretary of Health and Human Services, U.S. Senator Kirsten
Gillibrand issued the following statement:
“While
I commend the Obama Administration, and state and local governments for acting
swiftly and aggressively to contain the current Swine Flu outbreak, it is clear
that we can’t wait another day to fill this critical leadership post. Beyond
emergency preparedness, reforming our broken health care system is a vital
component in ensuring that we have the ability to contain outbreaks in the
future. It is time to end the partisan ideological divide in the Senate and
confirm Governor Sebelius immediately.
“Governor
Sebelius is the commonsense, hardworking leader we need at the helm of the
Department of Health and Human Services. She’s a proven leader with the ability
to bring people together to produce real, meaningful results for people’s
everyday lives. She will provide the kind of leadership we need now more than
ever as we face critical challenges – the worst economic crisis any of us have
ever seen, a daunting number of uninsured and underinsured, health care costs
that are crippling families and small businesses and the need for our nation to
be fully prepared as we face potential global health pandemics.”