President nominates replacement for Kathleen Sebelius

WASHINGTON (CNN) President Barack Obama announced Friday that he will nominate Sylvia Mathews Burwell, who currently directs the White House budget office, to be the next health secretary, the Cabinet official whos ultimately responsible for overseeing Obamacare.

Obama praised the outgoing secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, saying at a Rose Garden ceremony that she would go down in history for serving when the United States finally declared that quality, affordable health care would be a right for every U.S. citizen.

I will miss her advice. I will miss her friendship, Obama said. I will miss her wit.

Her departure is not without controversy although her tenure will conclude more positively with the Obama administration riding high over the initial enrollment success of the politically charged health law.

Obama acknowledged the early problems with the governments HealthCare.gov website last fall, which was an enormously tumultuous period for Sebelius.

But Obama followed up by saying that her team turned the corner and got it fixed, got the job done in carrying out the sign-up period from October through March. The final score speaks for itself, Obama said with 7.5 million people signed up for health coverage.

The Affordable Care Act, Obamas signature domestic achievement, aims to provide insurance for millions of Americans without it.

Burwell is also no stranger to making tough calls.

As director of the Office of Management and Budget for the past year, Burwell was at the center of last falls budget drama during which she was responsible for sending out the shutdown order for federal agencies.

She also has a history in Washington circles that extends beyond her current position. She was a budget and campaign official for Bill Clinton.

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President nominates replacement for Kathleen Sebelius