Senate confirms Biden's pick Robert Califf as FDA commissioner
Washington — The Senate on Tuesday approved Dr. Robert Califf as the next commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), filling a critical role at the public health agency that has been without a Senate-confirmed leader for more than a year.
The final vote was 50 to 46, with six GOP senators voting to confirm Califf and five Democrats voting against. GOP Senator Mike Rounds changed his vote to "present" as a courtesy to Democratic Senator Ben Ray Luján, who is still recovering from a stroke. Luján and two other senators did not vote.
It took the president nearly 10 months to nominate Califf, despite the ongoing and deadly COVID-19 pandemic. The FDA is, among many other things, in charge of approving COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics.
Whether Califf would have the votes wasn't entirely clear ahead of Tuesday, with some Democrats like Senator Joe Manchin disapproving of the pick. Califf, a cardiologist, served as FDA commissioner during the Obama administration. Some, including Manchin, have criticized Califf for not doing enough to stem the opioid epidemic, and for his ties to the pharmaceutical industry.
Republican Senators Roy Blunt, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Pat Toomey and Mitt Romney voted in favor of confirming Califf, while Democratic Senators Manchin, Richard Blumenthal, Ed Markey, and Maggie Hassen voted against his confirmation. Senator Bernie Sanders also voted against confirming Califf.
Dr. Janet Woodcock has been serving as the acting FDA commissioner since the beginning of the Biden administration.
Former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb told "Face the Nation" on Sunday that Califf will be great in the role.
"I think he's an outstanding choice for the agency previously held that job, and I inherited the FDA from his leadership, so a lot of his policies and his team was what I inherited when I took over the agency," Gottlieb said. "You know, there's different political reasons why senators have made an issue of his confirmation. One of them is the issue of opioids, which he's been very strong on advancing policies to help deal with the opioid epidemic."