Senate health panel delays vote on CDC nominee

WASHINGTON — The Senate’s health panel delayed until next week a vote on Erica Schwartz to run the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, after postponing a separate vote on Sean Kaufman for a key public health preparedness role. The committee vote on Schwartz was pushed back because too few senators showed up. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) is dealing with a family emergency, and at least one other lawmaker was also absent. Earlier on Thursday, health committee chair Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) said he had enough votes to advance Schwartz out of the committee, where the GOP holds a one-vote advantage. Cassidy told reporters he delayed the vote on Kaufman to be assistant secretary for preparedness and response because he hadn’t done a count of how much support Kaufman had. A Senate health committee spokesperson said that the committee and the administration were looking into a “path forward” for Kaufman. When asked what that might look like, Cassidy responded: “TBD.” Schwartz was deputy surgeon general during the first Trump administration. During her confirmation hearing, she spoke about scaling up drive-thru Covid-19 testing during the pandemic as well as her experience in health roles in the U.S. military.