Senate HELP committee to hold confirmation hearing on FDA commissioner nominee

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on Thursday will hold a confirmation hearing for Margaret Hamburg, President Obama's nominee for FDA commissioner, the New York Times reports.

The committee is expected to approve the nomination. According to the Times, the hearing was moved forward one week because of the increase in cases of H1N1 influenza in the U.S. (Harris, New York Times, 5/7). Although the H1N1 outbreak appears to have lessened in the past few days, Hamburg likely will field questions about government response to the disease, according to CQ Today.

In addition, she likely will face questions from Republicans about legislation (S 982) that would give FDA authority to regulate tobacco products. Some Republicans have said the agency is not the right organization to regulate tobacco products (Armstrong, CQ Today, 5/6). Hamburg also is expected to face questions regarding recent outbreaks of salmonella in food products (AP/Kansas City Star, 5/7). If the HELP Committee votes to confirm Hamburg, her nomination will be sent to the full Senate (CQ Today, 5/6).