It is the old line of “Its not over until its over”.
After stalling for several weeks, the Senate Health, Education, Labor
and Pensions (HELP) Committee is scheduled to vote on the nomination
of Andrew von Eschenbach to be the next Commissioner of the Food and
Drug Administration (FDA) on Wednesday, September 20th.
However, two Republican Senators have told the New York Times (see
attached) that they will put a hold on a full Senate vote on the
nomination if approved. Senator David Vitter (R-LA) wants the FDA to
legalize any form of prescription drug reimportation from Canada, or
authorize a pilot program. Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) wants the FDA to
withdraw the abortion drug RU-486 from the market. Neither of these
Senators serve on the HELP Committee, unlike Senators Clinton (D-NY)
and Patti Murray (D-WA) who put a hold on consideration of the
nomination because of the FDA's handling of the “Plan B” emergency
contraception pill, for over a year. This was recently resolved
leading to the expectation that von Eschenbach would be the next
permanent head of the FDA,
Even if the HELP Committee approves von Eschenbach, a hold by either
Vitter or DeMint will prevent a full Senate vote this year given the
remaining time left on the Congressional calendar. HELP Committee
Ranking Member Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) has signaled his support
for von Eschenbach, which suggests the confirmation will clear the
committee on Wednesday.
Once voted out of the committee, but not acted on by the full Senate,
President Bush can make a recess appointment to make von Eschenbach
the FDA Commissioner. This would be a promotion from the current
Acting Commissioner status, but does not carry permanent status. With
Congress in recess until mid January 2007, a recess appointment made,
for example, in early January carries over into the next Congress.
This would mean that von Eschenbach would hold the Commissioner
position only until the end of the next Congress, at the end of 2008,
unless there is a change in political party leadership in the Senate
this year, or people otherwise change their minds.
Click the following to see the New York Times article:
2 Republicans in Senate Vow
to Block F.D.A. Pick
