Pileup of health nominees awaits Senate health panel

Pileup of health nominees awaits Senate health panel

A slew of Trump health nominees are awaiting Senate confirmation hearings — and most have to go through a committee chaired by a senator who recently clashed with President Trump.

Why it matters: While the administration tries to staff up some health agencies after last year's DOGE cuts, top leadership roles remain unfilled.

  • There are no full-time political leaders at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Food and Drug Administration. The surgeon general's post is vacant.
  • And Trump only recently made his picks for deputy health secretary and assistant secretaries for planning and for preparedness.

    • The big picture: The gatekeeper who will preside over most of the nominations is Senate health committee Chair Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who had a shouting match with Trump in a closed-door meeting over the Iran war last week and has sparred with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over vaccine policies.

  • Cassidy — who lost his primary to a Trump-backed challenger in May — does not appear set to torpedo any of the nominees, in part because they're seen as more mainstream and less tied to Kennedy's "Make America Healthy Again" movement.
  • "Lack of stability is a problem," Cassidy told CBS' "Face the Nation" on Sunday.
  • He noted that his committee is moving forward with hearings and that he was "very favorably impressed" after meeting with CDC director designate Erica Schwartz and surgeon general nominee Nicole Saphier.
  • "I can't speak for everybody, but I imagine they will be approved," he said.

    • Health committee spokesperson Stephen Lewerenz told Axios the panel plans to hold hearings in July on the nominations of Schwartz and Saphier, as well as Sean Kaufman for assistant secretary for preparedness and response.

  • "The Committee will do its job to confirm qualified nominees and serve the American people," he said.
  • The Senate Finance Committee will vote on Chris Klomp's nomination for deputy health secretary.

    • Between the lines: Helping ease the tension to some degree is that the administration has pivoted toward nominees who have been less overtly political or not staked out controversial positions on issues like vaccine policy.

  • "I think they're finding nominees that kind of fit the need for that particular gantlet, since it was already a difficult gantlet to go through in the [health committee]," said David Mansdoerfer, a former HHS official in Trump's first term.
  • It's not just Cassidy on that committee: Nominees will also need the votes of moderate GOP senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine.

    • Zoom in: Schwartz, a former deputy surgeon general, was widely praised by health experts.

  • There is no nominee for FDA commissioner yet, but the agency is already changing its tune on rare disease drugs to a more industry-friendly stance.
  • Saphier is a radiologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. She is less controversial than the previous nominee, Casey Means, a Kennedy ally who declined to urge people to get vaccinated under questioning from Cassidy.
  • Trump attacked Cassidy in late April when he withdrew Means' nomination, accusing him of "intransigence and political games."

    • Yes, but: After the most recent blowup over Iran last week, Cassidy told CBS that Trump called him and they had a "positive" conversation.

  • Cassidy also says he sees signs of progress in the administration's stance on vaccines.
  • "The administration clearly has gotten off the anti-vaccine message into something more positive," he said.