Former South Dakota Sen. Tom Daschle will become the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, President-elect Barack Obama announced Thursday. He also said Daschle will head a new White House office dealing with health care reform.

Daschle, who rose to be Senate Majority Leader before losing a 2004 election, was an early backer of Obama's candidacy.

He was elected to South Dakota's House seat in 1980 and moved to the Senate in 1986. Daschle's wife, Linda, is a former Clinton adminstration official and has had a long career as a lobbyist for the airline industry, among others. She left her firm last month.