Daschle Withdraws Nomination

“On Tom Daschle, is the president at all concerned that the continuing problem of members of your cabinet, or aspiring members of your cabinet, to pay their taxes according to the law will undercut either the president’s rhetoric on an era or responsibility, or the fact that your health plan and your tax plans going forward are likely going to be asking American — some Americans to pay more in taxes?”

Running the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services “will require a leader who can operate with the full faith of Congress and the American people, and without distraction,” Daschle says in a statement about his decision to withdraw from the nomination process. “Right now, I am not that leader, and will not be a distraction.”

President Obama says he has accepted Daschle’s decision to withdraw his nominee with “sadness and regret.”