Washington’s acid partisanship responsible for policy gridlock is even worse than during the impeachment of former President Bill Clinton, according to President Obama’s pick to replace resigning Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

Sylvia Mathews Burwell, currently the president’s budget chief, said in early March that she has been struck by the breakdown in basic relationships in Washington since when she worked in the Clinton administration in the 1990s.