Cornyn Statement on Berwick Recess Appointment

Statement

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) today released the following statement following President Obama's recess appointment of Donald Berwick to be Director of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS):

"This recess appointment flouts the checks and balances of our constitutional system, which include the responsibility of the United States Senate to provide advice and consent on key executive branch positions. This particular nominee has not even testified at a committee hearing, an opportunity for the American people to listen to his plans for an agency that affects their personal health care needs.

"Based on the Administration's track record on health care reform, the stealthy appointment of a controversial nominee comes as no surprise. From day one of the debate on health care reform, the President who campaigned on transparency has orchestrated special interest pacts, back-room negotiations, sweetheart deals in exchange for votes, procedural tactics on the Senate floor, and now an extraordinary maneuver to land an extremist nominee at the helm of CMS. It's clear that the President knows his health care policies and the people he has running them simply don't hold up in the light of day."

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