Alex Azar was confirmed by the Senate earlier this afternoon as the next Secretary of Health and Human Services by a vote of 55 – 43.
Category: Biomedical Research
Senate to Take Up HHS Nomination
The full Senate is scheduled to take up today the nomination of Alex Azar to serve as Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Azar is not a new-comer to the HHS as he served as Deputy Secretary during the George W. Bush Administration. He has recently been an executive at the pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly and Co.
HHS funds and oversees a host of health-related and biomedical agencies and research programs. The National Institutes of Health is part of HHS.
Azar was nominated to replace former Secretary Tom Price, who resigned last year.
New Nominee to Lead HHS Named
The Trump Administration announced today that it intends to nominate Alex Azar as the next Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). Azar served at HHS under the George W. Bush Administration from 2001 to 2007, first as general counsel and deputy secretary. He served in senior leadership roles at Lilly USA between 2007 and late 2016.
The first HHS Secretary in the Trump Administration, Tom Price, resigned earlier this fall due to the fallout over his use of chartered flights.
House Spending Bill Includes Helpful Language on F&A
The House spending bill that would fund the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in FY2018 includes helpful language on the facilities and administrative (F&A) costs issue. The bill includes the following language on the issue:
In making Federal financial assistance, the NIH shall continue to apply the provisions relating to indirect costs in part 75 of title 45, Code of Federal Regulations, including with respect to the approval of deviations from negotiated rates, to the same extent and in the same manner as the NIH applied such provisions in the third quarter of fiscal year 2017. None of the funds appropriated by this Act may be used by the NIH to develop or implement a modified approach to such provisions, or to intentionally or substantially expand the fiscal effect of the approval of such deviations from negotiated rates beyond the proportional effect of such approvals in such quarter.
The measure is scheduled to be taken up by the House Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittee this afternoon. UW Federal Relations will provide additional updates.
Collins to Stay On as NIH Director
Yesterday, the White House announced that Dr. Francis Collins will continue to serve as Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Collins has led the NIH since 2009 and previously led the NIH Human Genome Research Institute.
Earlier this year, a bipartisan group of Congressional leaders wrote a letter to the President asking him to keep Collins.