Sebelius to meet with business leaders

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will meet Wednesday with the chief executive officers of several major U.S. companies, a source with knowledge of the meeting confirmed.

The sit-down with members of the Business Roundtable, a powerful association of CEOs, comes as the administration nears the end of its blistering first enrollment period under ObamaCare.

{mosads}The meeting’s likely topic is the healthcare law, though a representative for the Business Roundtable would not offer confirmation.

The Obama administration has taken several steps to ease pressure on companies as they cope with new mandates under the reform.

Twice, federal health officials have delayed all or part of the requirement that larger businesses offer health coverage to their workers. Under current rules, employers with 50 to 99 workers will not have to comply until 2016.

But private industry has many other complaints about the healthcare law, including its definition of a full-time employee as someone who works an average of at least 30 hours a week.

The Business Roundtable is in Washington for a quarterly meeting. The group will hear from Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Wednesday afternoon in lieu of Vice President Biden, who is in Eastern Europe.

Hagel is expected to address the Pentagon’s latest proposed budget and the tension with Russia.