Bredesen: 'I'm Not Packing My Bags'
Excerpts from the governor's availability with reporters this afternoon:
Q: Your name has come up [for HHS secretary]. Have you been called? Would you consider this?
Bredesen: Um, I'm a southern governor. I've been involved in health care all my life. I think for that reason my name has been on these lists. People have sent me various articles with my name on this short list or whatever. This as you remember is not the first time this has happened. I have not had any calls from the White House or anybody asking me about it. And you know, we'll see what happens. I'm not packing my bags or anything.
Q: Has anybody contacted you? Any intermediaries?
Bredesen: No, I don't think so. I mean I have had a lot of calls and emails from people around the country who have seen some of the press on it mentioning it to me. But nothing that I would regard as an emissary from the White House or anything like that.
Q: Who would be your recommendation for secretary of health?
Bredesen: I don't know. I think what I'd probably tell the president is that it's a very important decision right now. We're at a nexus where some real health care reform can happen in this country, and we've got a two- or three-year window to make it happen. Let me think about it and I'll get back to you with an answer.
Q: Would you be more inclined to take a job like that now that the federal stimulus money seems to be easing the state's financial crisis?
Bredesen: Well, if someone calls me up and asks are you interested. I'll sit down and kinda figure out where we are. I have to say my mindset is that the state is in for a much easier time right now than I believed it was three months ago or something like that. I'll deal with it if and when it happens. I love my job as governor. I hope that's clear to everybody. I'm very engaged right now in getting the budget together and seeing what actually is in the stimulus package and how we use it to mitigate some of the really difficult cuts that we've had to consider and that's really where my mind is right now.
Post a Comment
