Office of the Press Secretary
________________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release May 1, 2009
East Room
4:50 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Hello, everybody. Please, everybody have a seat. This
is a big family here. (Laughter.) A bit like a wedding, you know.
(Laughter.)
We’re here this afternoon to formally fill out my Cabinet with my new
Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius; and my
Secretary of Commerce, Gary Locke. Secretary Sebelius and Secretary
Locke were actually sworn in before today, but around here, we like to
make sure we get it right. (Laughter.) I had to do it twice, and so
now we make everybody do it twice. (Laughter.)
When I announced Kathleen as my choice for HHS Secretary, I said that
one of her responsibilities would be to make certain our nation is
prepared for a pandemic. What I didn’t expect was that a serious H1N1
flu outbreak would be her first assignment. But it is. And that’s why
on Tuesday, only hours after being confirmed by the Senate, she was
sworn in by my side in the Oval Office and then went straight to the
Situation Room to get to work dealing with this emergency.
But managing crises is nothing new for Kathleen. She has plenty of
experience doing just that as governor of Kansas, and that expertise
has enabled her to hit the ground running. She’s been closely
monitoring and carefully managing the situation, along with her Acting
Director at the CDC, Dr. Richard Besser, and Secretary Janet
Napolitano. They’re making sure all federal agencies are coordinating
their efforts and they’ll keep the American people updated over the
days ahead.
Experts tell us this is a unique virus with the potential to have a
great impact. And as long as it remains a potentially grave threat
we’re going to take it very seriously. And obviously we hope the
precautions we’re taking prove unnecessary, but better safe than
sorry. We will take every appropriate action to make sure that the
American people are safe.
And if the flu outbreak isn’t enough, Secretary Sebelius has a lot of
other challenges on her plate, from guaranteeing the safety of our
nation’s food and drug supply to keeping America at the forefront of
medical research, to helping to lead our effort to ensure that every
American has access to quality, affordable health care.
As a former state insurance commissioner and governor, Kathleen has
been on the front lines of our health care crisis. And she shares my
belief that if we’re going to cut costs for families and businesses,
maintain quality, and improve the long-term economic health of our
nation, we must realize that fixing what’s wrong with our health care
system is no longer just a moral imperative -- it’s an economic and
fiscal imperative. If we want to make companies more competitive and
reduce our budget deficits in the future, we need to tackle health care
reform right now.
The reform we’re talking about won’t focus on Democratic ideas or
Republican ideas, but on ideas that work. And that’s precisely the
kind of commitment to bipartisan accomplishment that Kathleen
embodies. She is, after all, the daughter of a Democratic governor and
the daughter-in-law of a Republican congressman. Her father, who is
here, former Ohio Governor John Gilligan -- I just want to acknowledge
him -- where did he go? There he is, right in front. Give him a big
round of applause. (Applause.) He and Kathleen make up the first
father-daughter pair of governors in the United States.
But Kathleen has a -- forged a reputation for bipartisan problem
solving in her own right. Time and again, she bridged the partisan
divide and worked with a Republican legislature to get things done for
the people of Kansas.
Kathleen possesses the patience and understanding honed by nearly 35
years of marriage to her husband Gary Sebelius -- (laughter) -- the
former "First Dude" of Kansas -- (laughter) -- the grace and good humor
required to raise sons like Ned and John; and the kind of pragmatic
wisdom you tend to find in a Kansan. She’s already a tremendous asset
to my Cabinet. She has hit the ground running. I look forward to
working with her in the years to come.
Now, when I chose Gary Locke for my Commerce Secretary, I mentioned his
own remarkable story. More than 100 years ago, Gary’s grandfather left
China on a steamship bound for America, and found work as a domestic
servant in Washington State. He raised a son -- Gary’s father, Jimmy
-- who would go on to fight in World War II, return home and open a
grocery store, and later raise a family of his own.
Gary worked his way through Yale with the help of scholarships and
student loans, earned his law degree, and returned to Washington State
to devote his life to public service. And when he took the oath of
office as governor of Washington, he did so in the state capitol
building not one mile from the home where his grandfather worked as a
servant all those years ago. And that’s how I know Gary shares my
deep, abiding belief in the American Dream -- because he’s lived it,
too.
He’s since proceeded to honor the family’s legacy with years of
distinguished service as one of the nation’s most able and
forward-thinking governors. He worked to promote economic development
and attract businesses to Washington that would create the jobs of the
21st century -- jobs in science and technology; agriculture and clean
energy. And I’m proud of what he and his team at the Department of
Commerce are doing to help create conditions in which our workers can
prosper, our businesses can compete and thrive, and our economy can
grow.
I want to thank his lovely wife, Mona, their adorable children, Emily,
Dylan, and Madeline, for being here -- thank you, guys -- (laughter) --
and for the sacrifices they’ve made to send Gary from one Washington to
another -- especially Emily, because I know it’s harder when you’re
older. (Laughter.) And I’m grateful to Gary for his service, because
I know how hard it is to be away from your family.
My Cabinet is now full of energetic innovators like Kathleen and Gary;
a team of leaders who push the envelope every day because they know
that whether the wind is in our face or at our backs, America does not
settle -- we always march forward. I am thrilled to have them by my
side as we continue the work of turning our economy around and laying a
new foundation for growth that delivers on the change the American
people asked for, and the promise of a new and better day ahead.
So with that, I’m going to turn it over to another extraordinary member
of my team, my Vice President, Joe Biden, to administer the oaths.
Joe.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Mr. President.
(The oaths are administered.) (Applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, everybody. Have a great weekend. (Applause.)
END
5:00 P.M. EDT
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