Daschle still key player on health care
WASHINGTON -- Nearly four months after tax troubles forced him to forgo his plan to lead the nation's health department, former senator Tom Daschle has re-emerged as a key player on health care, lawmakers and policy experts say.
Though he withdrew his nomination to serve as Health and Human Services secretary in February, Daschle is again poised to play a critical role as Congress debates how to provide medical care to 46 million people who are uninsured in the United States.
Daschle, a Democrat who represented South Dakota in Congress for 26 years before his defeat in 2004, is calling for action in a campaignlike circuit of speeches. He penned a piece in Newsweek last week supporting a public health plan to compete with private insurers. When General Electric announced it would spend $6 billion to lower medical costs, it named Daschle to the board of the new initiative.
Most important, the former Senate majority leader continues to meet privately with members of Congress, pressing them on the importance of health care overhaul, Daschle and others at the meetings said.
"I'm really enjoying this. I may be having more fun in this role than I would have in the other," Daschle, 61, said in an interview. "I knew that just because one opportunity to be involved may have not been possible there are a lot of other options for me to be involved."
Daschle works for Alston & Bird, a law firm that lobbies on behalf of more than a dozen health companies, including CVS Caremark, according to Senate lobbying disclosure statements.
Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said the arrangement raises questions about what Daschle is advocating and who he represents in the closed-door meetings with members of Congress. "It's like being a senator or being in the administration without having any of the restrictions," she said.
Daschle, who is not a lobbyist, said he does not lobby but rather offers his thoughts to anyone who finds them helpful, be it the law firm or lawmakers. "I don't change my analysis or my message based on the audience," he said. "That's my strength, that I can share this analysis … with whomever is interested."
Obama nominated Daschle in December and he was expected to be a central figure in promoting health care legislation Congress is drafting. But Daschle withdrew after acknowledging he failed to pay $128,000 in taxes for consulting income and several years' use of a car and driver.
Former Kansas governor Kathleen Sebelius was confirmed as Health secretary in April.
Daschle's rapid comeback was possible because of the respect he commands both on Capitol Hill and in the health care community, said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md..
"Tom is a very popular Washington presence," said Hoyer, who said he invited Daschle to speak privately with a small group of lawmakers last week on how to pay for an expansion of health care. "What he brings is a very deep knowledge of legislative possibilities and challenges."
Other factors explaining Daschle's influence:
• Many of his former staffers are highly placed. William Corr, who served as Daschle's chief counsel in the Senate in the late 1990s, is now a deputy secretary at the Department of Health and Human Services.
• As co-founder of the Bipartisan Policy Center, Daschle has an outlet to advocate his policies. The center is scheduled to release a plan for changing the health care system in June.
"He may not have the title we were expecting," said Rep. Xavier Becerra, D-Calif., "but without a doubt he is indispensible in helping move health care forward."