WASHINGTON — Tom Daschle, once considered assured of breezing through his confirmation as secretary of Health and Human Services, soon will face tough questioning on Capitol Hill about underpaying his income taxes and his extensive work for clients in the healthcare industry, Republican aides said Saturday.
GOP lawmakers on the Senate Finance Committee are preparing to grill the former Senate majority leader about his failure to pay more than $128,000 in taxes for 2005, 2006 and 2007.
And Republicans are interested in hundreds of thousands of dollars Daschle earned for consulting work and speaking engagements with healthcare companies and groups in the years after his 2005 departure from the Senate.
Though not a registered lobbyist, the South Dakota Democrat over the last two years earned more than $2.1 million as a "special policy advisor" at Alston & Bird, a law firm with more than 50 lobbying clients in the healthcare industry.
According to financial disclosure forms filed with the Office of Government Ethics, Daschle also took in $153,200 in 2008 for giving speeches to healthcare companies and industry groups such as GE Healthcare, a leading manufacturer of medical devices.
A decade ago, Daschle's wife did some work for the healthcare industry as well. In 1999 and 2000, Linda Daschle was among a group of lobbyists at Baker Donelson Bearman & Caldwell who represented the drug maker Schering-Plough Corp., which paid the law firm $470,000 over the two years, according to federal lobbying reports.
Tom Daschle has indicated he plans to resign from Alston & Bird if he is confirmed. He already stepped down from more than a dozen boards, including that of the Mayo Clinic, another influential voice in the healthcare debate.
Last month, the Office of Government Ethics concluded that Daschle "is in compliance with applicable laws and regulations governing conflicts of interest."
And a Daschle spokeswoman said Saturday that the former senator was looking forward to his hearing before the Senate Finance Committee, likely to be in the next several weeks.
"He is happy to answer any more questions that members have," Jenny Backus said.
GOP lawmakers -- many of whom cheered Daschle's selection to head President Obama's healthcare reform effort -- have been relatively quiet since news of his tax problems leaked Friday.
With only 41 votes in the Senate, Republicans have little leverage to stop Daschle's nomination.
