Trump's FDA pick Heidi Overton faced tough Senate questions on vaccines and the abortion pill. Will the Senate confirm her by Oct 23?
56% of users predicted NO — the community got this one right. 9 predictions cast.
The Senate had not confirmed Heidi Overton, Trump's nominee to lead the FDA, by October 23. Overton, a deputy director on the White House Domestic Policy Council, faced a contentious confirmation hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on September 24, where senators pressed her on vaccine spacing recommendations and her views on the abortion pill mifepristone.
Committee chairman Senator Bill Cassidy, a physician, called her support for spacing out childhood vaccinations "almost disqualifying," and Senator Patty Murray said she would vote no. With Republicans holding only a 53-seat majority and all Democrats expected to oppose her, the White House could afford to lose just three votes. Rather than force a risky committee or floor vote, Republican leadership opted to wait, with analysts and reporting noting no vote was expected before the November midterm elections.
No committee or floor vote occurred by the question's October 23 deadline. Community forecasters were split going in, putting the odds of confirmation at 44%, and the delay proved the more likely outcome, consistent with reporting throughout October that leadership saw little benefit in forcing the issue before the election.