Reports: Tom Daschle is Obama's health secretary

Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle has been appointed to the post of Health Secretary in Barack Obama's Cabinet, according to reports on CNN and the Capitol Hill paper Roll Call.

The appointment of Mr Daschle - the first to Mr Obama's Cabinet - will not surprise observers as the South Dakota senator had already been announced as head of the President-Elect's healthcare policy group while he prepares to take office on January 20.

His 18-year Senate career saw him rise to become the top Democrat in the chamber, a position he held for ten years from 1994 including a two-year spell as Majority Leader when the party held the Senate from 2001 to 2003. Prior to his election as a Senator Mr Daschle served for eight years in the House of Representatives.

In October 2001, while Senate Majority Leader, Mr Daschle's offices were targeted in an anthrax attack. No one was hurt.

One of Mr Obama's earliest supporters, he encouraged the first-term Illinois senator to launch his presidential bid and was widely reported to be a favourite for chief-of-staff until the appointment of Rahm Emanuel.

Since losing his 2004 Senate re-election bid he has worked as a policy adviser to the law firm Alston and Bird. He is also a visiting professor at Georgetown University and fellow at the influential thinktank Center for American Progress.

Comments

[greg]

Since losing his Senate seat Daschle has worked for a lobbyist group aligned with healthcare. Sounds a lot like more of the same instead of Change We Can Believe In. Wake up people!