VON ESCHENBACH NOMINATION THREATENED AGAIN
The White House's pick to run the FDA is again facing opposition, this time from members of the president's own party, as two Republican lawmakers have threatened to place a hold on the nomination.
Sens. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and David Vitter (R-La.) are threatening to hold up Andrew von Eschenbach's nomination once it hits the Senate floor unless the agency begins to allow some form of drug importation and suspend sales of the RU-486 contraceptive. This development occurs just weeks after Democrats dropped their proposed hold on the nominee.
The decision left Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee Chairman Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), who had shepherded the nomination through the committee, exasperated and looking to the White House for help. The senator "has essentially bent over backwards to accommodate the committee" and get von Eschenbach's nomination ready for consideration by the full Senate an Enzi spokesman said. "At the end of the day, the FDA loses" without a permanent commissioner.
Enzi will still move forward with his scheduled Sept. 20 committee vote on the nomination. Staff has yet to take a straw poll of members to see how they will vote, but is likely to do so early this week, the source added. If von Eschenbach makes it out of committee, Enzi will look to Senate leadership and the White House to ensure that DeMint and Vitter do not hold up the nomination.
DeMint is planning to hold the nomination because the FDA has not been responsive to his concerns about RU-486. After several meetings with von Eschenbach and agency staff, this dispute has "reached a breaking point," a DeMint spokesman said. The "FDA needs to wake up and take these concerns seriously." Lawmakers, including DeMint, have argued that the drug needs to be pulled from the market because of instances where women have died or been injured while taking the drug.