WASHINGTON – Today, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee voted to favorably report the nominations of Dr. Jayanta Bhattacharya to be Director of the National Institutes of Health and Dr. Martin Makary to be Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration by votes of 12-11 and 14-9, respectively. Their nominations will now move to the Senate floor for a final vote at a later date.
Click here to watch the full executive session.
Before the vote, U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, delivered remarks in support of the nominations. Cassidy’s speech as prepared for delivery can be found below:
The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions will please come to order.
We are at a critical moment in public health. While the COVID-19 pandemic has ended, the loss of trust in public health and science agencies remains. This comes as the nation faces serious health threats like a measles outbreak, which has already claimed at least one life and hospitalized many more.
The American people’s trust in public health institutions must be restored. To start, we need public health leaders committed to transparency and finding unbiased solutions to Americans’ most challenging health problems. Dr. Bhattacharya and Dr. Makary have demonstrated they are ready to take on this responsibility.
If confirmed as Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Dr. Bhattacharya committed to promoting free and open debate at the agency, allowing all viewpoints to find the best outcome for Americans’ health. He also discussed modernizing NIH, empowering scientists to find the next lifesaving medical breakthrough.
Moving on to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). If confirmed as FDA Commissioner, Dr. Makary committed to promoting medical innovation while upholding FDA’s gold standard of review, so Americans can benefit from the latest lifesaving medicines and devices. He emphasized the need to address obesity and chronic disease, in collaboration with other administration officials.
Dr. Bhattacharya and Dr. Makary have the experience and the vision to achieve President Trump’s objective of making America healthy again. I support their nominations, and urge my colleagues to do the same.
With that, I recognize Senator Sanders for his opening statement.
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