But that was contingent on the administration submitting required paperwork to the committee by Nov. 19. It missed that deadline, probably pushing Califf’s affirmation vote into January. The doc submission is a formality within the affirmation course of, however have to be accomplished to guarantee senators have all of the supplies they want to absolutely contemplate a nominee.
A Democratic Senate HELP Committee aide stated that the panel obtained Califf’s paperwork on Monday, and was working “to schedule a hearing as soon as possible.”
After this text’s publication, a White House official burdened that there was no onerous deadline for submitting the nomination paperwork, solely an “arbitrary timeline.”
The timing situation represents the newest complication in a monthslong effort to set up a everlasting chief atop an FDA that sits on the heart of the Covid-19 response and vaccination marketing campaign.
Even earlier than Biden formally took workplace, his administration was eyeing longtime profession FDA regulator Janet Woodcock to run the company. But Woodcock bumped into opposition from a handful of Senate Democrats over the FDA’s observe file on opioid approvals and perceptions she was too shut to the drug trade.
The White House spent the following a number of months searching for various candidates, approaching greater than a dozen potential nominees earlier than deciding on Califf, who headed the FDA for a 12 months within the Obama administration.
The drawn-out course of has annoyed FDA staffers exhausted by two years of pandemic stress and left at the hours of darkness on who could be their subsequent everlasting chief. It additionally puzzled some within the broader drug neighborhood, who’ve privately questioned why the administration took so lengthy to discover a nominee — solely to choose one who was certain to face the identical criticisms that have been lobbed at Woodcock earlier this 12 months.
Three Democratic senators have already expressed deep reservations about Califf’s candidacy over his connection to the FDA’s decision-making on opioids, in addition to his work for a wide range of pharmaceutical corporations.
Still, the White House is relying on Califf successful some Republican assist within the evenly divided Senate, in addition to the overwhelming majority of Democrats. HELP Chair Patty Murray has already endorsed his candidacy.
Murray is scheduled to meet just about with Califf on Dec. 1, the HELP Committee aide stated.
