Washington ( CNN ) -- They smelled blood . And they pounced . Sebelius : ' I apologize , I 'm accountable ' Obamacare is one issue that unites Republicans and any opportunity to disparage the law was not wasted Wednesday as the woman in charge of implementing it , Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius , appeared before the House Energy and Commerce Committee to explain what is going on with the program 's problem-plagued website . As Republicans lobbed question after question and challenged her credibility and competence , Sebelius held it together , mostly . I 'm sorry . It started with an apology . Sebelius apologized for HealthCare.gov being a `` miserably frustrating experience '' and said she is `` as frustrated and angry as anyone . '' `` I 'm accountable to you for fixing these problems , '' she said in the first minutes of the 3Â½-hour grilling . But it went downhill from there and Sebelius at times grew visibly frustrated . ' I was wrong ' Sebelius did n't sugarcoat the website 's problems . She shielded President Barack Obama from responsibility for the faulty enrollment website . `` I told the President that we were ready to go . Clearly I was wrong . We were wrong , '' she said . `` No one ever imagined the volume of issues and problems that we 've had and we must fix it . '' Crash . Then she did sugarcoat the problem . `` I would suggest the website has never crashed . It is functional , but at a very slow speed and very low reliability and has continued to function , '' she said as a video monitor in the hearing room showed that the website was down . The Republican National Committee launched an online Web campaign that included an ad with an overweight man lying on the floor saying , `` I 'm not down . I 'm just functioning at a very slow speed . '' 'Whatever ' `` Whatever , '' was one of her responses during a grilling from Rep. Gregg Harper , R-Mississippi , on whether Obama was responsible for the debacle . After responding , `` Whatever , '' the secretary put both her hands in the air , briefly , then resumed . `` He is the President . He is responsible for government programs , '' she concluded . Exasperated Sebelius to questioner : 'Whatever ' A Republican senator who was not at the hearing , John Cornyn of Texas , put out a statement criticizing the secretary. `` 'Whatever ' is hardly a fitting response from a Cabinet-level official being asked legitimate questions about how hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars have been wasted on a botched product that not only does n't work but is also putting consumers ' personal information at risk , '' Cornyn said . It then became a GOP talking point . 'Do n't do this to me ' During one grilling session in which Sebelius was aggressively asked why she is n't buying her health insurance through the exchanges , a visibly annoyed Sebelius had a `` hot mic '' moment that has become online fodder . At the end of an intense questioning session by Rep. Billy Long , R-Missouri , viewers could ( barely ) hear an audible moment of exasperation when she muttered , `` Do n't do this to me . '' More : 5 things we learned from Sebelius hearing . CNN 's Lisa Desjardins contributed to this report .
As Republicans lob questions at her , Kathleen Sebelius tries to keep cool . In 3Â½ hours , she apologizes and shows exasperation . She gives GOP a talking point with `` whatever '' response to one question .