Final hearing set for HHS nominee Burwell

Sylvia Mathews Burwell, nominated to lead the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), will face the Senate Finance Committee for her final confirmation hearing on Wednesday.

The event, announced Monday, marks the last threshold before Burwell’s nomination can receive a vote on the Senate floor. The Finance Committee will also hold its own vote, a first for Burwell’s HHS nod.

{mosads}Senate Democrats have the votes necessary to confirm Burwell, who currently directs the White House budget office and previously worked in the Clinton administration.

Filibuster reform in the upper chamber has deprived the confirmation process of its normal partisan rancor.

A hearing last week in the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee was notably friendly toward President Obama’s nominee, as few Republicans undertook serious criticism of Burwell or ObamaCare.

Wednesday’s hearing will begin at 2:15 p.m.