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Trump's FDA Pick Overton Faces Senate Hearing
Confirmed
In Short: Heidi Overton, President Donald Trump's pick to lead the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), will face a confirmation hearing before the Senate health committee on Thursday.
Overton, a preventive medicine physician and deputy director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, has drawn scrutiny from lawmakers and industry leaders for her relative lack of managerial experience and adherence to policies pushed by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy.
If confirmed, Overton, at 37, will be the youngest FDA commissioner ever and will take over an agency that has lost more than 3,000 staff over the past year, including division heads.
Overton's anti-abortion views are expected to draw Democratic scrutiny and opposition from abortion-rights advocates.
Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, the panel's Republican chairman and a physician, is likely to press Overton on vaccines and whether she would defy Kennedy.
Overton previously worked at the America First Policy Institute, a conservative think tank, and praised the Supreme Court's decision overturning Roe v. Wade.
White House spokesman Kush Desai said Overton will ensure that policymaking at the FDA is guided solely by 'Gold Standard Science.
Overton's views on vaccines and abortion drugs are expected to be a focal point of the hearing.
Overton will need a majority of votes from the 21-member health committee, followed by a positive vote from the full Senate to become commissioner.
What this adds
Overton's nomination has raised concerns about her ability to manage the FDA and its complex regulatory processes.
The hearing will also address Overton's stance on the safety and regulation of vaccines and abortion drugs.
What's confirmed
- Overton, a preventive medicine physician and deputy director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, previously worked at the America First Policy Institute, a conservative think tank.
What's still developing
- WASHINGTON, Sept 24 - The US Senate health committee will hold a confirmation hearing on Thursday for Heidi Overton, President Donald Trump's pick to lead the embattled FDA, as it also weighs advancing his surgeon general nominee.
- Trump nominated Overton, a White House policy aide, in August, turning to an "America First" ally to steady an agency shaken by staff losses, low morale and fights over vaccines, the abortion pill and drug approvals.
- That question has become a fixture of recent confirmation hearings for Trump health nominees.
- Cassidy, who is a key vote in Overton’s confirmation, has been pushing the administration to reverse a Biden-era rule that allows mifepristone to be prescribed via telemedicine and sent through the mail.
- Art Caplan, the head of the medical ethics division at NYU Grossman School of Medicine in New York City, said Overton’s views on abortion appear to align with Cassidy’s.
- Prior to that, she worked as chief policy officer at the conservative think tank America First Policy Institute, where she praised the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade and called for strict restrictions on medication abortion, claiming that it is “ dangerous to women.” (Studies have shown that the drug, even when taken at home, is safe and effective.) If confirmed, Overton would take over an agency that has been without a permanent commissioner since Makary resigned in May, in part over the administration’s decision to authorize several fruit-flavored vapes for adults.
- On CBS News’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday, Cassidy — who has also aggressively questioned and pressed several Trump administration nominees on vaccines — said Overton must acknowledge that Trump’s claim that the measles vaccine is lethal is “absurd” when she appears before his committee.
- Overton, Reiss said, doesn’t appear to have expertise in clinical trials, managing an agency or any of the products the FDA regulates.
- Heidi Overton, a fierce opponent of abortion rights, is set to appear before senators Thursday for her confirmation hearing to lead the Food and Drug Administration.
- Marty Makary, to complete a safety review that they both promised during their confirmation hearings.
- As commissioner, Overton would serve as a key ally to Kennedy, whose department oversees the FDA.
- Overton is a proponent of Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” movement.