Mehmet Oz, the doctor and TV personality known as Dr. Oz, has started meeting with senators to garner support for his nomination to lead CMS. Oz was on Capitol Hill Tuesday and told POLITICO he met with key moderate Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.). His visit coincided with the Senate Finance Committee's narrow vote to advance Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s nomination to serve as HHS secretary. The Finance Committee will also decide whether Oz will lead CMS. President Donald Trump named Oz to lead CMS in November.
As President Trump takes the reins of the federal government, one of the agencies in turmoil is the National Institutes of Health — the world's leading public funder of biomedical research.
The FDA has given two biotechnology companies approval for clinical trials that will transplant organs from genetically modified pigs into patients with kidney failure, an experimental but potentially groundbreaking innovation for thousands of Americans on the waiting list for organ transplants.
President Donald Trump's end of DEI language in federal agencies has caused U.S. health data to be removed or not be updated. Medical experts warn that the losses, even in areas like flu and Covid tracking where DEI isn't central, make it harder to manage outbreaks and fix health disparities. "When they take that data away, we're absolutely blind," said Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association. "The true impact is more people get sick and more people die."
The Senate Finance Committee is considering Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s nomination today, with a key vote on whether to advance his confirmation to lead HHS after a pair of fiery hearings last week. Kennedy appeared Wednesday before the finance committee for a confirmation hearing, before testifying to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions the following day. During both appearances, Democrats on the committees — and even some Republicans — grilled the longtime environmental lawyer and activist on his stances on vaccines, abortion, and other issues.