I guess the news of Sebelius attending a gala while brushing off the American people was just too much for the administration and Sebelius is now scheduled to testify next week before Congress. Talk about ‘must watch TV’:
THE HILL – Embattled Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will testify before Congress next week about the botched rollout of ObamaCare’s insurance exchanges after rejecting GOP demands to appear this week.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee confirmed Monday night that Sebelius would meet with the committee next Wednesday.
The notice capped a day of wrangling between Sebelius and congressional Republicans who repeatedly attacked her for rejecting calls to testify at a Thursday hearing.
Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) accused Sebelius of “seeking to avoid accountability and stonewall the public” by declining to attend this week’s hearing.
“What is more important to Secretary Sebelius than providing answers to the American people?” Boehner said in a statement. “I hope President Obama … orders his Secretary to fully cooperate with all congressional inquires.”
Sebelius is scheduled to be in Phoenix on Thursday.
Sebelius has been under pressure for a week, with Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus and several GOP lawmakers calling for her resignation.
Obama has stood by her, with the White House saying last week he had confidence in the secretary, who has been at his side since the beginning of his first term.
Obama “has a lot of confidence in Kathleen Sebelius,” White House communications director Jennifer Palmieri said Monday on MSNBC.
“Implementing this law is a hard piece of policy business. It’s a hard piece of technology business and it’s very hard politically. And Kathleen has taken a lot of, a lot of hits over the years, and she can very much handle them.”
Yet the fight over when Sebelius would testify hampered the Obama administration’s effort Monday to regain control of the narrative surrounding ObamaCare, which has turned sharply negative because of the problems people have faced in enrolling online for health insurance.
The pressure seems likely to increase with Republicans making her the face of the dysfunctional rollout.