Senate HELP Committee Delays Vote on Gottlieb Nomination
Senate HELP Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN) on Wednesday delayed an expected vote on Scott Gottlieb's nomination to head the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Alexander said the vote was being delayed to give senators more time to "consider whatever information they want to consider and fit the schedules of senators who are all over the capital."
According to Committee Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA), senators would need the extra time to review Gottlieb's responses to questions sent following his nomination hearing earlier this month.
"I had requested additional information from [Gottlieb] about his committee paperwork because of his complex financials and his potential for conflicts of interest, and we only got the answers for that about 45 minutes ago," Murray said, adding that it would be unreasonable to prompt a vote on the nomination before giving senators a chance to review Gottlieb's responses.
For now, Alexander said the committee expects the vote to be rescheduled for 10:00 or 10:30 Thursday morning.