Dive Brief:
- The Senate voted 78-17 on Thursday to confirm Sylvia Burwell as the next Health and Human Services Secretary. She replaces heavily-criticized Kathleen Sebelius.
- Burwell received bipartisan support throughout her confirmation hearings and was widely expected to be voted into the office.
- According to an HHS aide, Burwell will take over after she is sworn in on Monday.
Dive Insight:
The Washington Post reports that Burwell is "not well known in health policy circles, and, during her confirmation hearings, gave little concrete sense of the direction in which she will take the complex department she will inherit." The Clinton administration veteran did manage to steer away from the political theatrics of the hearings, in which Republicans drew a distinction between objections to the health care law and objections to Burwell, which seem to be few. Burwell will need to choose her priorities for implementing policies under this administration quickly, as her window of time between now and the inauguration of a new president is limited.