Olympia Buckland

Olympia Buckland sponsors an infant-mortality initiative that the White House initially blocked from committee over high costs. President Bartlet overrides this stance on a holiday afternoon, directing Josh Lyman to fold her bill—or a version of it—into the HHS budget before January 1 printing. Her proposal drives a last-minute policy scramble, forcing staff to rewrite federal allocations under moral pressure from the President, who pivots from fiscal caution to urgent action.