Senate Confirms Sylvia Mathews Burwell As Secretary of Health And Human Services

RTR3OBBQ — Ranking member Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) (L) and committee chairman Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) (2nd L) greet Sylvia Burwell as she arrives to testify 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

The U.S. Senate confirmed Sylvia Mathews Burwell as secretary of health and human services by a vote of 78-17 on Thursday.

Burwell replaces Kathleen Sebelius, who oversaw the troubled launch of Obamacare and HealthCare.gov. She was seen as the face of the “disastrous” rollout and resigned on April 11. President Barack Obama nominated Burwell the same day.

The president praised Burwell and the Senate's bipartisan cooperation following her confirmation.

Obama: "I applaud the strong, bipartisan majority of Senators who today confirmed Sylvia Mathews Burwell" pic.twitter.com/JsjqW1HmFn
— HuffPost Politics (@HuffPostPol) June 5, 2014

Burwell most recently has served as director of the Office of Management and Budget from April 2013. She was president of the Global Development Program and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for 10 years and in 2012 became president of the Walmart Foundation.

She also worked on a number of Democratic campaigns and held four leadership positions in the Clinton administration. She holds an A.B. from Harvard University and a B.A. from Oxford University.

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