Nominees to lead CDC, pandemic preparedness office move forward in Senate committee vote

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Public Health

The Senate health committee today approved President Donald Trump’s nominees to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR).

The approval of Erica Schwartz, MD, MPH, JD, to lead the CDC by all Republican members and one Democrat on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions means her nomination now heads to the full Senate floor. 

Senate committee room with empty chairs
wellesenterprises / iStock

The approval comes despite a rocky confirmation hearing, in which several senators on the committee appeared dismayed by some of Schwartz’s responses to their questions. But support from committee chair Bill Cassidy (R-LA), a key vote, assured that Schwartz would move forward.

Cassidy receives assurances, again

The nomination of Sean Kaufman, MPH, to lead ASPR also moved forward, with the nominee opposed by all Democrats on the committee. Cassidy, who assailed Kaufman for his previous criticism of vaccines during his July 15 confirmation hearing, said Kaufman had “owned up” to anti-vaccine statements. 

Cassidy added that his support was contingent upon assurances he received from Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) officials.

“I am assured, if he is confirmed, [that] he will not be involved in vaccine policy, nor will he be the ultimate decision-maker on certain issues, like mRNA, because of his past statements,” Cassidy said before his vote. 

Cassidy, who was defeated in a primary in May and will leave the Senate next year, has been widely criticized for his crucial vote to confirm HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., despite reservations about his views on vaccines. Prior to that vote, Cassidy received assurances from the Trump administration that Kennedy would not undermine US vaccine policy.

Schwartz and Kaufman are both likely to be confirmed by the full Senate.

Senator pushes to hold Fauci in contempt after he declined to answer COVID-related questions in hearing

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Topics
Anti-science
COVID-19
Anthony Fauci, MD
Christopher Michel / Wikimedia Commons

After Anthony Fauci, MD, declined to answer questions during a hearing of a congressional committee chaired by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) yesterday, Paul says he is moving to hold the former National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director in contempt of Congress, he told reporters.

Throughout the contentious hearing of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment in response to questions and accusations that he attempted to obscure the true origins of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The senator said the vote will occur in committee next week. Some Republican committee members allege that Fauci had no right to take the Fifth, because the preemptive pardon he received from former President Joe Biden conferred immunity from criminal prosecution.

“We believe that with his… immunity from criminal liability, that he didn’t need to hide behind the Fifth Amendment and that maybe the Fifth Amendment doesn’t attach when you have a pardon in place,” Paul said. “That’ll be a legal question… and then there’s a question of whether or not the Department of Justice will take that up.”

During the hearing, Fauci said he believes in congressional oversight but took issue with Paul’s “obvious obsession with calling for my prosecution.”

A dogged, years-long pursuit

Paul has long pursued Fauci, who led the COVID-19 response during the first Trump administration and the Biden administration, and called for his criminal prosecution.

We believe that with his… immunity from criminal liability, that he didn’t need to hide behind the Fifth Amendment and that maybe the Fifth Amendment doesn’t attach when you have a pardon in place.

Sen. Rand Paul

The senator alleges that Fauci supported gain-of-function research in Wuhan, China, that resulted in the creation and accidental release of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID, and that he tried to suppress evidence of a lab leak, which Fauci disputes. 

No conclusive evidence of a lab leak has been uncovered, though the Trump administration now says evidence points to the creation of the virus in a National Institutes of Health–funded lab. Fauci has said that a lab leak cannot be ruled out.

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