Daschle Hearing

Today I took the Metro by myself for the first time! I met Andrew at Union Station and then we walked the 4 blocks over to Capitol Hill.. this time not in heels. After passing through security, we walked the halls of the Senate Building to find the location of the hearing. I walked right by Bob Dole and barely recognized him. The line to get in was forever long and we ended up in the overflow room to watch the hearing on TV. The Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee was the first senate hearing of the 111th Congress. The hearing was to consider former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle to be Secretary of Health and Human Services of the newly created White House Office of Health Reform. Senator Bob Dole introduced Daschle, Daschle then addressed the committee, and then the committee asked him questions. The discussion was about health care reform and the buzz words of the day were prevention and wellness. There was some talk about increasing funding to the National Health Service Corps to stimulate primary care providers and access to health care in rural and underserved areas. Daschle pointed out the 3 main problems with the current healthcare structure to be accessibility, affordability, and quality. The hearing was highly organized, with everyone staying on time. Many questions were answered, but the committee had many more questions at the end of the hearing, as you could imagine. After the hearing Andrew and I ate lunch at Capitol Grill. I had some chicken sandwich situation which was delicious! I took the Metro home and my car back to APTA, where we spent the rest of the afternoon drafting a memo on the hearing.