Senate Confirms Tom Price as HHS Secretary

The US Senate officially confirmed Representative Tom Price, MD, to head the Department of Health and Human Services, with a 52-48 vote.

The vote was split down party lines, with the Senate majority of 52 Republicans all voting in favor of Dr Price’s confirmation.

“As the former chairman of the House Budget Committee, Dr Price has a thorough understanding of health care policy and the damage that Obamacare has caused,” Sen Lamar Alexander (R-Tennessee), chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, said in response to Dr Price’s confirmation. “He can see the view from the doctor’s office as well as from the lawmaker’s office and will be an excellent partner as Congress works to rescue Americans trapped in the failing Obamacare system and to build better health care systems.”

Controversy surrounded the nomination, as ethical concerns were raised regarding a stock purchase made by Dr Price that could have been benefited by legislation he later introduced. Dr Price has defended himself by stating that a financial advisor conducted the stock trade, without him knowing the specific details of the transaction. However, Senate Democrats viewed this as an ethics violation.

“It is now clear that Rep Price’s responses to the Senate HELP and Finance Committees and press reports on his trading activities offer conflicting accounts of how and when Rep Price made investment decisions,” Democratic members of the Senate HELP Committee wrote in a letter to the Security Exchange
Commission. “As both Democrats and Republicans have noted, it is critical that public officials be fully prepared to make decisions in the interest of the people they serve, not their own financial interests.” —David Costill