words of tribute, the last words of service are he is the part of decency and public service. this morning, bob michel, who served as leader of the house of representatives of the republican party passed away at age 93. his replacement as republican leader in the house marked the end of an era of civility. congress has never been the same. as the son of an immigrant, decorated veteran of world war ii, person who was first a staffer, then elected to congress and rose to leadership, is a testament to his talent and commitment to america. i have known bob michel for 35 years. we have congressional districts downstate, when i was elected in 1982, in the reagan off your election it was a tough republicans. bob michel barely survived. attorney stevens of peoria had 48%, lane evans was elected to congress and i was as well. for 14 years we were neighboring congressman. bob michel campaigned for my opponents. i went to his district to campaign for his opponents. you would think creat
the president s nominee for the next administrator for centers for medicare and medicaid services said all options should be considered to improve program quality and financial stability. seema verma testified in a three our confirmation hearing yesterday. [inaudible conversations] the committee will come order. i would like to welcome everyone to this morning s hearing. today we consider the nomination of seema verma to service administrator of the centers for medicaid, medicare and medicaid services. we are so happy to have you here and your family too. appreciate your willingness to meet at the agency on this article time. i see your family has joined you today to lend support so i extend a warm welcome to all of you and them as well. cms is the world s largest health insurer covering over one third of the us population through medicare and medicaid alone. it has a budget of over $1 trillion and processes over 1.2 billion a year for services provided to some of our natio
this week. on tuesday, another major insurance company announced that it, too, will leave the marketplace. in its decision, humana cited a lack of young people signing up, a problem that s dogged obamacare for years now. in many areas, humana is the only carrier left. so this will mean even more instability. and then on wednesday, the c.e.o. of aetna, another large insurance carrier, said obamacare is in a death spiral. his words. here is what is important for us all to understand. obamacare is not simply stuck in some kind of status quo. it is getting worse by the day, and it will keep getting worse unless we act. we need to rescue people from this collapsing law. and we need to replace it with a true patient-centered system. one that gives every american access to quality, affordable coverage. that means more choices and lower costs. it means real protections and peace of mind. and it means returning your care to your control. patients and doctors should be making the big d
ladies and gentlemen, the president of the united states. cameras clicking] president trump: thank you very much. to begin byd mentioning that the nominee for secretary of the apartment of labor department of labor will be mr. alex acosta. he has a degree from harvard law school, a great student. he has a degree from harvard law school, a great student. a former clerk for justice alito . he has had a tremendous career. he is a member of the national labor relations board and has been through senate confirmation three times, confirmed, did very well. him thehave wished best. we just spoke. tremendouswill be a secretary of labor. also, as you probably heard a little while ago, mick mulvaney has just been approved, we flight, have to say that, we flight. late. of weeks i think he will be a fantastic addition. paul singer has left. he was involved in the anti-trump, or as they say, never trump, he has just left and has given us his total support. we are unifying the party a
sen. corker: in order to move on, first of all we are back in session, and in order to move on, senator udall, we will move on to you. sen. udall: thank you very much. i appreciate the hearing. i would like to put in the record the letter from the five ambassadors if it hasn t already been put in the record, bipartisan group of ambassadors that say that mr. friedman is unfit to be ambassador. sen. corker: without objection. sen. udall: and i m in agreement with much of what they said. i m strongly opposed to this nominee. i believe secretary tillerson and president trump should recognize that mr. friedman is unfit for this or any other diplomatic office and withdraw him immediately. if not, i strongly recommend this committee not recommend him for confirmation. mr. friedman does not represent american values in the region. that is evident from his past statements, and they are not random, off-the-cuff remarks. much of his intensive offensive rhetoric has been reported in th