FDA GETS PERMANENT LEADERSHIP; SENATE CONFIRMS VON ESCHENBACH
Outgoing Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's (R-Tenn.) last-minute effort to push through the Bush administration's choice to be the FDA commissioner was successful as the Senate voted overwhelmingly last night to approve the nomination. But the agency's main critic, who attempted to block a vote on the nomination, remains determined to hold the FDA's feet to the fire during the next session.
The Senate voted 80-11 to confirm Andrew von Eschenbach as FDA commissioner. Frist said earlier in the week he was making to push for confirmation because the agency must have permanent leadership and von Eschenbach is the right person for the job. The nominee "has done a superb job in the position he is currently occupying," Frist said.
The Senate had agreed earlier in the day to cloture by a vote of 89-6, overcoming holds on the nominee. Cloture, which ends debate on an issue, requires 60 votes to pass.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), one of the agency's fiercest critics, offered a blistering attack on the nominee, arguing that his confirmation will make oversight of the agency more difficult in the next session. Grassley placed a hold on the nomination Nov. 16, saying the agency has been uncooperative in providing information he requested on clinical trial fraud involving sanofi-aventis' antibiotic Ketek (telithromycin).
Democrats should be wary of a commissioner who has resisted congressional efforts at oversight, Grassley said during the debate prior to the cloture vote. The senator also challenged Democratic leadership who will control the Senate in January to keep focusing on FDA reform and oversight. "Are you going to keep your promise to the American public?" he asked. "A vote for this nominee would be a vote for stonewalling and disrespect for this Congress." Von Eschenbach has shown a "complete and utter disrespect for congressional authority," he added.