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On Monday, President Obama named Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius as Secretary of Health and Human Services. Sebelius’ experience includes eight years in the Kansas House of Representatives and one year as state insurance commissioner. She awaits confirmation from the Senate but is facing some opposition for her pro-choice views from several Republican senators and anti-abortion organizations. President Obama is looking to Sebelius to expand medicare for Americans and linking the absence of universal healthcare to the overall economic crisis. In Kansas, she proposed providing health insurance for every uninsured Kansas child from birth to age five. President Obama declared that providing Americans with healthcare is “a fiscal imperative, not just a moral imperative.” Sebelius agrees, saying “that we can’t fix the economy without fixing health care.” Criticism over fiscal responsibility is what thwarted Tom Daschle’s candidacy for this position of Health and Human Services Secretary last month, when he disclosed his failure to pay over $140,000 in taxes and interest. Obama has made healthcare reform a priority and allotted more than $600 billion in his budget proposal last week to serve as a down payment. The president is also preparing to host a White House summit on the issue this Thursday.

GUEST: Michael Lighty, Director of Public Policy at the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee