Sen. Max Baucus has said that the Finance Committee is still waiting on paperwork surrounding the nomination of Donald Berwick, President Obama’s controversial pick to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and that he doesn’t see confirmation hearings before mid-July at the earliest, Modern Healthcare reports.

Republicans are poised to use the Berwick nomination to draw parallels between Obama’s vision for health care and the socialized British health care system, which Berwick has warmly praised.

“Cynics beware, I am romantic about the (British) National Health Service; I love it,” Berwick said in a July 2008 speech at England’s Wembley stadium. “All I need to do to rediscover the romance is to look at health care in my own country.”

To learn more about Berwick and his love of rationing, check out the longer piece I wrote last month here.