Trump FDA pick dodges senators’ questions on abortion, vaccines, and vaping

Dr. Heidi Overton, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, dodged a slew of questions on vaccines, abortion, and vaping policies during her confirmation hearing, visibly upsetting Democrats and Republicans on the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee.Overton, who currently serves as a domestic policy adviser to Trump, endured roughly two hours of questions from the senators on a range of hot-button topics, but was scolded several times by Republicans and Democrats for not providing direct answers.“You’ve done a pretty good job of avoiding answering questions so far,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) said. Overton offered lengthy answers to a multitude of yes-or-no questions to senators on both sides of the aisle, a tactic frequently used to run out the clock during intense questioning in congressional hearings. The FDA nominee also relied heavily on technical definitions of what her role would be as the commissioner, rather than offering her own opinion on critical issues.Multiple Republicans and Democrats asked Overton about the FDA’s impending safety study on the abortion pill mifepristone and whether she will push for the reinstatement of in-person screening requirements for physicians to dispense the drug. Overton, while at the America First Policy Institute, authored a policy paper saying telemedicine access for abortion is unsafe for women due to the risk of complications from ectopic pregnancies and other conditions, but she did not share her views on abortion during the hearing.When Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), both of whom support online abortion pill access, asked Overton whether she believed mifepristone is safe for women, the nominee did not offer her professional opinion as a physician but rather reiterated what her role would be should she be confirmed.“As the nominee for the Commissioner of Food and Drugs, my job would be to abide by the statutory standards set out for safety and efficacy,” Overton told Murray. “And when a product is before the agency and has met those standards, I would agree with the statutory standards of safety and efficacy.”Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), who has also expressed her support for telemedicine access to abortion pills, said that she was not going to use her limited questioning time to ask Overton about mifepristone based on her prior answers.“I can go down this same rabbit trail and probably get the exact same very specific technical responses that you have provided the committee,” Murkowski said.Chairman Bill Cassidy (R-LA) received a similar highly technical response when he asked Overton about the safety of vaccines, including the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine that Trump in August described as “potentially quite lethal.” Overton did not outright say that the president was wrong, but instead told Cassidy and other members of the committee that the MMR vaccine is safe and effective by FDA standards and that her role at the FDA would be to “make sure that Americans know the status of every product that is approved by the FDA. “Every vaccine on the U.S. market right now are safe and effective according to the FDA,” Overton said.Sen. Ashley Moody (R-FL) expressed slight frustration with Overton as well for not answering yes-or-no questions about FDA regulations on vaping applications that have made it difficult to police illegal vape products.TRUMP SAYS HE IS DEMANDING DRUGMAKERS BREAK UP VACCINES INTO FIVE SHOTS TO PREVENT AUTISMMoody asked Overton to explain that, under current rules, the FDA allows for vaping products to go on the market so long as they have a valid application waiting for review with the FDA. Instead of directly answering the question in dialogue, Overton attempted to provide a longer response to the broader problem.“I’m just trying to find out what the law is,” Moody said, cutting Overton off. “The law is a yes. I’ll get to the next question.”