Hope and Fail

Damaged goods: President to make recess appointment for Medicare head

According to a post on the White House blog, President Obama will use his recess appointment powers to appoint Dr. Donald Berwick to serve as Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Recess appointments are perfectly legal, and the Senate still must confirm recess nominees by the end of the next Congress.

However, Obama hasn’t always been a fan of recess appointments. When President George W. Bush used the process to place John Bolton at the U.N., Obama called him “damaged goods” because Bolton was controversial:

“To some degree, he’s damaged goods,” said Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “I think that means we’ll have less credibility and, ironically, be less equipped to reform the United Nations in the way that it needs to be reformed.”

Like Bolton, Berwick is controversial — which is why the Senate hasn’t confirmed him yet. He’s spoken about how wonderful the British, government-run health care system is, especially when it redistributes wealth, and he’s admitted that more government involvement in health care will lead to rationing. That’s why the Senate hasn’t approved his nomination, which was made back in April.

By sidestepping the Senate, Obama is avoiding putting Berwick in the hot seat and instead sticking him directly at the head of Medicare and Medicaid. According to Obama’s own standard, Berwick is “damaged goods.”

Berwick will be Obama’s 18th recess appointment. As Jake Tapper points out, Bush had made 15 recess appointments this far into his presidency.