A slate of health care nominees is inching closer to confirmation following a Wednesday hearing in which they made their respective pitches.
President Trump’s picks for surgeon general, Health and Human Services deputy secretary, and head of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration appeared before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Wednesday morning. The nominees addressed a number of pressing issues, with questions on vaccines, substance abuse, and revoked grant funding.
Some moderate Republicans on the panel seemed warm to the slate of nominees—an indication that they will not have as much trouble as other recent nominees to appear before the panel.
Trump’s previous choice for surgeon general, Casey Means, was unable to advance past the HELP Committee earlier this year. Her nomination stalled for weeks before it was pulled by the White House in April. Means lacked sufficient GOP support, as some more-moderate Republicans expressed concerns about her lack of traditional medical credentials and her skepticism about vaccines.
The president’s replacement nominee, Nicole Saphier, walked a difficult line Wednesday between outlining her personal support for vaccines while giving space to those within the health-freedom movement to push back on government-backed vaccine mandates. Notably, Saphier broke with both Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on several talking points relating to vaccines—including the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine.
“As a physician, I can tell you that I do not believe the MMR vaccine to be lethal,” Saphier said. “I believe the MMR vaccine is our greatest tool for combating measles. ... I do not believe childhood vaccines cause autism.”
The surgeon-general nominee went as far as to endorse a universal hepatitis B vaccination—a move that goes against a Kennedy-appointed vaccine panel that voted to end the universal recommendations last December. A federal judge halted that action in March.
Saphier’s answers seemed to satisfy some Republicans, including HELP Chairman Bill Cassidy and Sen. Lisa Murkowski. GOP moderates have been at odds with the administration over changes in the childhood vaccine schedule and misinformation-peddling from Kennedy.
“I think you have a focus and view that is going to lend what I hope will be some credibility and trust to our health systems,” Murkowski said to Saphier. “I now have talked for two minutes, and I've kind of signaled that I'm OK with the direction that you're hoping to take us as surgeon general.”
Cassidy also praised Saphier’s answers to his questions on vaccines, calling them “music" to his ears.
Murkowski and Republican Sen. Susan Collins were the main opponents of advancing Means in the HELP Committee over her refusal to support vaccines. Cassidy, who is in charge of scheduling a committee vote, avoided answering questions from reporters at the time on whether he would support Means.
Saphier differs from Means in a number of ways. A physician and radiologist, the current nominee has a more traditional medical background, having served as the director of breast imaging at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.
She’s also a former Fox News medical contributor. Means did not finish her surgical-residency program at Oregon Health and Science University.
Two other nominees, Chris Klomp for deputy HHS secretary and Timothy Westlake for SAMHSA, also testified. Klomp appeared Tuesday before the Senate Finance Committee, which will be responsible for moving his nomination forward.
Cassidy questioned Klomp, Kennedy’s current senior adviser, on the lack of movement on an agreement to modify a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention webpage currently stating that the idea that vaccines do not cause autism is “not an evidence-based claim” and that studies supporting any link have “been ignored by health authorities.”
In conversations with CDC Director Erica Schwartz—whom Cassidy voted to confirm—the chair said the CDC is also trying to come up with a definition on how measles causes death.
Cassidy said the CDC not publishing recent measles deaths on its website gives a “perception” that the agency “is trying to dance around the sensitivities of the secretary, as opposed to being straightforward with the American people.”
Klomp said he’s discussed the issue with Schwartz, and he outlined two areas that he wants the department to improve upon if he is confirmed: ending the debate on the data around vaccines and setting a “clear definition” of how measles causes death. He also committed to a policy discussion or response on vaccines.
While Democrats questioned the nominees on controversial issues like vaccines, senators on both sides of the aisle also focused on issues such as the Biden-era nursing-home-staffing requirements, funding-grant cancellations, and drug-overdose-recovery programs.
While it’s likely that Republicans will be united in confirming the nominees, it’s unclear whether any Democrats will break ranks to do so. The committee has not yet given notice of a vote on the nominees.
