President Obama’s nominee to lead the Food and Drug Administration got a strong nod of assent Tuesday morning from a key Senate committee.
By a broad voice vote, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee approved Robert Califf to replace Margaret Hamburg as comissioner of the FDA, the federal agency that oversees public health in the U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., voted against him by proxy.
The vote moves Califf’s nomination onto the Senate floor, where only a simple majority is needed to confirm him.
“Califf’s a respected clinician, a researcher and an adviser,” said Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C. “His record has been reviewed thoroughly by this committee.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont Democrat trying to beat Hillary Clinton for the party’s presidential nomination, said he opposed Califf’s nomination by proxy because of his ties to the pharmacuetical industry.
“We need someone who will work to substantially lower drug prices, implement rules to safely import brand-name drugs from Canada and hold companies accountable who defraud our government,” Sanders said in a statement. “Dr. Califf is not that person.”
Despite his otherwise overwhelming popularity among both Democrats and Republicans, Califf’s nomination still could hit some roadblocks.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, joined her colleagues in voting to approve Califf, but she warned she might try to block his Senate confirmation if she doesn’t get assurances from the FDA that it will adopt safeguards for genetically modified fish.
The agency announced in November that it had approved the first application for selling a genetically modified animal product, in this case a type of salmon. Murkowski, whose home state of Alaska is a major salmon producer, wants to ensure the product can’t be sold until the FDA also publishes guidelines for how genetically modified food products must be labeled.
The spending bill Congress passed in December includes that requirement, but Murkowski said she wants assurances from Califf it will be followed; otherwise, she will consider blocking his full Senate confirmation.
“I will vote to move him out of committee today, but I just want my friends and colleagues to be on notice I have these concerns, and I would like these resolved before this moves forward on the floor,” she said.
