Letter Campaign Seeks to Block FDA Commissioner Nominee
Opposition to FDA commissioner nominee Heidi Overton is mounting, as a letter-writing campaign is underway to block Senate confirmation over her involvement with the Make America Healthy Again agenda, among other issues. “The FDA regulates the vaccines, medications, medical devices, food and other products Americans rely on every day,” a notice on the campaign’s Web site says. “Its commissioner must be willing to protect scientific integrity, not carry out the political agenda of Donald Trump and RFK Jr.”
Organized and sponsored by the National Campaign for Justice, the group takes issue with Overton’s role in helping advance Trump’s attack on childhood vaccines. “She stood with Trump when he signed an executive order pushing changes to the childhood vaccination schedule, called his action ‘historic,’ and supported separating the measles, mumps and rubella vaccines despite public health experts saying there is no scientific basis for doing so,” the notice says.
The group noted that Senator and physician Bill Cassidy (R-LA), who chairs the Senate HELP Committee overseeing the confirmation process, says there are serious reasons to reject her. He called Overton’s involvement in Trump’s vaccine executive order “almost disqualifying” and questioned whether she is qualified to lead FDA.
“The Senate cannot repeat its mistake of handing RFK Jr. enormous power over American public health and hoping he will respect science once he gets it,” the group says. “Every Senator must reject Heidi Overton and demand an FDA Commissioner who will protect vaccines, reproductive health care, scientific independence and public health.”
Meanwhile, the clock is ticking, and a quick confirmation is looking less likely at the moment. Steven Grossman, a former HHS official and Senate HELP Committee staffer, said a confirmation vote before the midterm elections “seems unlikely, although there may be a White House-led effort to ram a nomination through in late September.”
In a statement recently provided to FDA Webview, Grossman noted that the Senate is scheduled to be in session for only about three weeks before the election and that the financial disclosure and vetting process can take weeks before a hearing is scheduled. He also said support from all Republican senators for a quick confirmation “is far from a given.”
If confirmation is pushed back until the lame-duck session, predicting when or how the nomination will proceed could become difficult, according to Grossman.
“If the House or Senate flip, there is a notion that Republicans will rush forward with bills and nominations that won’t be viable after a change in control,” he said. “The reality can be different: departing Members sometimes stay home and are often reluctant to decide issues that they feel should be addressed by the newly-elected Congress.”