WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama's Medicare nominee Tuesday got unexpected support from one of Congress' Republican stars. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor told The Associated Press that Marilyn Tavenner is "eminently qualified" to run Medicare.

It may be too soon to contemplate a truce in the political wars over health care. With Tavenner, major players on both sides may be able to shift from confrontation to problem-solving.

The White House announced Tavenner's nomination last week to replace current Medicare chief Donald Berwick, who had run into a wall of opposition from Republicans and couldn't even get a hearing in the Senate. As head of Medicare and Medicaid, the former nurse would be responsible for programs that already provide coverage to 100 million Americans, as well as for putting in place the new health overhaul law to cover the uninsured.