The Senate confirmed Robert Califf as commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration Tuesday. He will reprise the role he held for just under a year starting in 2016. Five Democrats opposed Califf over his work consulting for pharmaceutical companies and the FDA’s record on tackling the opioid epidemic. The FDA has been without a permanent head for over a year.
Meanwhile, Senate Republicans boycotted a Banking Committee vote on five nominees to the Federal Reserve, including Fed Chair Jerome Powell, because they oppose Biden’s pick for vice chair for bank supervision, Sarah Bloom Raskin. Raskin, who is married to Democratic Congressmember Jamie Raskin, has vowed to focus on how the climate crisis threatens the economy; though Republicans say their opposition is linked to her work for the fintech firm Reserve Trust. Senate Banking Committee Chair Sherrod Brown blasted his Republican colleagues for stalling the vote.
Sen. Sherrod Brown: “Instead of showing up to work to do their jobs, Republicans have walked out on the American people. My Republican colleagues claim it’s because they haven’t gotten the information they’ve requested from one of the nominees. Let me be clear: Ms. Bloom Raskin has been the subject of an unrelenting smear campaign and fearmongering by the ranking member and Republicans.”