Healthcare, town halls to dominate Sunday shows

The fate of healthcare reform and the heated nature of constituent town halls will dominate the airwaves this Sunday.

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will talk up healthcare reform ABC’s This Week, along with Sen. Arlen Sepcter (D-Pa.) and Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah.) Specter held one of the more raucous town halls this week, so expect some questions about what lawmakers can do to quell the rage.

David Gregory will shoot the breeze with a number of current and former lawmakers on Meet the Press: Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), former Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), former Rep. Dick Armey (R-Tex.), Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.), and Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter (D).

The significance of those interviewees? Daschle was Obama’s first nominee will for HHS Secretary, and will undoubtedly take the administration line on healthcare. Dick Armey, who’s heading up Freedom Works, will defend the town hall protests. Rangel chairs the Ways and Means Committee, one of three House committees with jurisdiction over healthcare.

On Fox News Sunday, Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) will square off against Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.). Conrad, the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee and a member of the Finance Committee, has been a propronent of insurance “co-ops” as an alternative to the controversial “public plan.” What will he think about the Finance Committee’s decision to drop controversial end-of-life provisions from its healthcare package?

Finally, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs will “Face the Nation” on CBS, along with former Rep. Lee Hamilton (D-Ind.) and former Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.).