President Donald Trump’s nominees for the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration were confirmed by the Senate on Tuesday evening largely along partisan lines, marking a pivotal moment for the Trump administration’s “Make America Healthy Again” agenda to reform federal health agencies.
The Senate voted on party lines, 53-47, for Dr. Jay Bhattacharya to be NIH director, leading the agency that is the largest funder of biomedical innovation research worldwide.
Dr. Marty Makary was confirmed to be FDA commissioner in a 56-44 vote. Three Democrats voted for his confirmation: Minority Whip Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH). The FDA maintains safety and efficacy standards for drugs, vaccines, foods, and medical devices.
Both Bhattacharya and Makary are outsiders from their respective public health agencies, each of which has been targeted for substantial reforms by Republicans following widespread policy failures and declining trust following the COVID-19 pandemic era.
Each nominee faced long confirmation hearings in the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, where they were questioned about their perspectives on key aspects of the MAHA movement and whether or not they agreed with the more controversial positions of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
After Bhattacharya and Makary, the Senate will consider two more prominent political appointees to lead federal health agencies, rounding out Trump’s MAHA coalition: celebrity surgeon Dr. Mehmet Oz to oversee Medicare, Medicaid, and the Obamacare exchanges as the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and Susan Monarez to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Bhattacharya for NIH
Bhattacharya, a physician and health economist from Stanford University, gained a public profile criticizing societywide lockdowns in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. He was a lead author of the Great Barrington Declaration, which called for isolating the most vulnerable in society while allowing others to develop immunity to the virus through exposure.
Bhattacharya was also a strong critic of COVID-19 vaccine mandates, but he vehemently denied during his confirmation hearing that he believes in the connection between vaccines and autism.
One of Bhattacharya’s chief goals for his directorship he outlined during his confirmation hearing earlier this month was to restore trust in the NIH, which many Republicans think was permanently ruptured due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“If science is a force for freedom and for knowledge, it will have universal support,” Bhattacharya said.
Makary for FDA
During his confirmation hearing, senators from both sides of the aisle pressed Makary, a surgeon from Johns Hopkins University, on his ideas for regulating the abortion pill mifepristone, which has become a flashpoint on the debates over abortion and reproductive health.
Makary said repeatedly during his hearing that he had “no preconceived plans on mifepristone policy” except for reviewing all available safety and efficacy data and to meet with career FDA officials who have been conducting post-market monitoring of the abortifacient.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) almost held up Makary’s confirmation following the nominee’s support for appointing Hilary Perkins, a career Justice Department attorney, to be FDA chief counsel. Perkins litigated on behalf of the Biden administration during key cases on mifepristone.
Under pressure from Hawley, Perkins resigned her post to secure the Missouri senator’s support to advance Makary out of the Senate health committee.
On Tuesday night, Hawley voted in favor of Makary’s confirmation.
Also during his confirmation hearing, Makary stressed his desire to find innovative solutions to lower drug prices and make technologies more accessible to patients as well as removing conflicts of interest between the pharmaceutical industry and the FDA.
