White House budget director grilled on health plan details

Peter Orszag, President Barack Obama's budget director, rebuffed congressional demands for specifics on the administration's multibillion-dollar plans for healthcare, telling lawmakers that deciding how the money is spent is largely up to them. That response from Orszag, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, frustrated Republicans and a few Democrats as the Senate Finance Committee held the first of many hearings on overhauling the nation's healthcare system. The president's budget calls for a 10-year, $634 billion "down payment" on extending coverage to 48 million uninsured Americans.