logo
White House drops CDC director choice, cancels confirmation hearing

White House drops CDC director choice, cancels confirmation hearing

Yahoo13-03-2025

The White House has withdrawn its nomination of Dr. Dave Weldon to head the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The nomination was pulled, according to what sources told The Associated Press, 'because it became clear Weldon did not have the votes for confirmation.' Axios, which first reported the nomination would be dropped, said that his views on vaccinations were a sticking point.
The former Florida congressman was supposed to have a confirmation hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on Thursday, but it was canceled. Axios reported that '(Health and Human Services) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy himself said Weldon wasn't ready,' quoting one of its sources.
Hearings are still scheduled to consider the nominations of Dr. Jay Bhattacharya for National Institutes of Health director and Dr. Marty Makary for commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
AP reported that Weldon was not only an anti-vaccine activist, but was a 'prominent critic' of the agency he had been nominated to lead. CDC 'promotes vaccines and monitors their safety.'
'The Atlanta-based CDC, with an annual budget of $17.3 billion, tracks and responds to domestic and foreign threats to public health. Roughly two-thirds of its budget provides funds to the public health and prevention activities of state and local health agencies,' according to Reuters.
The White House has not said why the nomination was withdrawn.
The debate over public health is heated right now as the U.S. grapples with rising cases of measles and also of avian influenza.
This is the first time that a CDC director must be confirmed. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., cosponsored the PREVENT Pandemics Act, which passed with bipartisan support and made the CDC director role one that must be confirmed by the Senate, starting this year.
Murray has been an outspoken critic of the nomination of a vaccine skeptic to head the agency and issued a statement on the withdrawal of Weldon's nomination, quoting what she told Bloomberg: 'In our meeting last month, I was deeply disturbed to hear Dr. Weldon repeat debunked claims about vaccines — it's dangerous to put someone in charge at CDC who believes the lie that our rigorously tested childhood vaccine schedule is somehow exposing kids to toxic levels of mercury or causing autism.'
Weldon is the third nominee who lost or left the bid to serve before a confirmation hearing. Former U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Florida Republican, opted out of his nomination for attorney general. Chad Chronister, a Florida sheriff and politician who had been tapped to lead the Drug Enforcement Administration, is the third who failed to make it to a confirmation hearing.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Ohio senators work to ensure groups like LifeWise can send items back with students
Ohio senators work to ensure groups like LifeWise can send items back with students

Yahoo

time22 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

Ohio senators work to ensure groups like LifeWise can send items back with students

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — The Ohio Senate proposed requiring school districts to allow organizations like LifeWise to send trinkets, candy and other materials with students when they return to school. The Ohio Senate adjusted Ohio's release time for religious instruction law in its recently released draft of the state budget. Under the Senate's changes, public districts would have to allow RTRI organizations to send materials back with students and permit instruction on a near-weekly basis. The Spectrum: Lt. Gov. Tressel; Ohio budget; defense contractor setting up in central Ohio RTRI refers to legal religious instruction that occurs during the school day, off school property and with parental permission. Ohio's RTRI law recently changed; as of April 9, all public school districts have to allow religious release time, although districts have a lot of freedom in what those policies look like. If the budget passes in its current form, public districts like Columbus City Schools will have to adjust its policies. The Senate budget says districts must allow a minimum of 33 religious release lessons per school year and that schools' RTRI policies are not allowed to 'prohibit students from bringing external educational and program materials into school.' Several central Ohio schools have implemented policies prohibiting organizations from sending students back with trinkets, candy or materials to minimize disruptions. When Ohio's biggest school district, Columbus City Schools, banned organizations from distributing materials to take back to school, LifeWise founder and CEO Joel Penton said not distributing materials would not affect how families choose to participate in LifeWise. In April, LifeWise initiated a lawsuit over policies like CCS's. See previous coverage of CCS's policy change in the video player above. LifeWise, a Hilliard-based RTRI organization that has expanded biblical education nationwide, sued Ohio educational consultant firm Neola for its sample policies, which included an option ban on distributing materials. Using First Liberty Institute's legal team, LifeWise alleged Neola's sample RTRI policies violated the First Amendment. Ohio State announces every student will use AI in class Neola senior advisor Patrick Corbett told NBC4 in April that Neola shared the policy with its hundreds of clients, all Ohio public school districts, that then chose which parts to include. LifeWise warned Neola that school districts that choose to adopt the policies it was challenging would open themselves up to lawsuits. NBC4 reached out to LifeWise for comment on the Senate budget but was referred to Jeremy Dys, senior counsel at First Liberty, who represents LifeWise in its Neola case. Dys said since April, Neola has acknowledged the concerns and agreed to share them with their clients, although Neola client CCS's policy remains unchanged. Dys said he is glad to see Ohio take a stand against those policies in the state budget. 'Ohio is to be commended for its commitment to accommodate the schedules of its students to give parents the opportunity to seek a program of outside religious instruction,' Dys said. The state budget draft also acknowledges RTRI organizations' concerns about districts limiting how often students can go to those programs. These were the closest races in Ohio's primary election A school year in Ohio lasts around 36-40 weeks, with the state mandating 910 hours of instruction for K-6 grades and 1,001 for grades 7-12, with districts meeting those requirements on their own schedules. By requiring school districts to permit at least 33 RTRI sessions each year, the budget would ensure students can attend on a near-weekly basis. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost warned school districts in April against stopping RTRI groups from distributing materials or severely limiting how frequently students can attend. He agreed that banning materials could constitute a First Amendment violation and that limiting meetings could be interpreted as not properly complying with the law. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

N.H. tourism office deletes post, webpage of Pride-related events after Republican complaint
N.H. tourism office deletes post, webpage of Pride-related events after Republican complaint

Boston Globe

time36 minutes ago

  • Boston Globe

N.H. tourism office deletes post, webpage of Pride-related events after Republican complaint

Advertisement Maidment tagged Get N.H. Morning Report A weekday newsletter delivering the N.H. news you need to know right to your inbox. Enter Email Sign Up 'It's the low level bureaucrats that are drowning us,' he Update - it's been deleted. — Chris Maidment (@ChrisMaidmentNH) Along with the social media post, the VisitNH Advertisement Caswell and a division spokesperson did not directly answer questions from the Globe about who decided to delete the Pride-related content, why they made that decision, and what policies govern their editorial decision-making regarding which events to feature. 'We regularly promote events throughout New Hampshire, and the webpage you mentioned is active,' division spokesperson Kris Neilsen said in an email Sunday, after the webpage was restored. It's not entirely clear why the complaint yielded such a prompt response, since VisitNH had made similar social media posts for Pride events in Caswell was first appointed in 2017 by Republican Governor Christopher T. Sununu. He was reappointed by Sununu in 2021 to a second four-year term. That term will expire Some other Sununu appointees have already been shown the exit on Ayotte's watch. The governor announced that Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut The deletion of this Pride-themed content also comes at a crucial stage in the budget process, as state lawmakers finalize their spending plan for the next two fiscal years. Although the House and Senate have Advertisement That ideological lens has been applied to individual line items. In advocating deep cuts in funding to the University System of New Hampshire, some have argued the reductions are appropriate to curb left-leaning ' At least one lawmaker drew a direct connection between the budgeting process and the Pride-themed post from VisitNH. 'This is why we tried to strip away their funding,' Republican Representative James Spillane of Deerfield wrote Spillane called on Ayotte to 'get the department under control' or face legislative intervention. The New Hampshire House and Senate are likely to form a committee of conference this week to reconcile the differences between their versions of the budget, with a June 26 deadline to act on the committee's compromise. Steven Porter can be reached at

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store