U.S. health secretary nominee faces second Senate hearing May 14

Reuters
Sylvia Burwell testifies before a U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee confirmation hearing on her nomination to be secretary of the Health and Human Services Department, on Capitol Hill in Washington May 8, 2014. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Sylvia Mathews Burwell, President Barack Obama's nominee for U.S. health secretary, will face a second confirmation hearing on Wednesday before the Senate Finance Committee, the panel announced on Monday. Burwell, who would be the administration's public face for the law known as Obamacare, must be confirmed by the Senate before she can assume the post being vacated by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. She appeared before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee for her first confirmation hearing last week. The finance panel has official jurisdiction over the nomination and will decide whether to send it to the floor for a final vote. Democrats, who control the Senate, hope to have Burwell's confirmation approved before the U.S. Memorial Day holiday on May 26. (Reporting by David Morgan; Editing by James Dalgleish)