Confirmation hearings planned for RFK Jr. next week
Interim HHS Sec. Dorothy Fink has blocked external HHS communications until they can be "reviewed and approved by a Presidential appointee."
HHS Secretary nominee RFK Jr.
Photo: C-SPAN
Senate confirmation hearings for Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Trump's pick to head Health and Human Services, will take place on Wednesday and Thursday of next week.
The Senate Committee on Finance will hold a hearing on RFK Jr.'s nomination starting at 10 a.m., Wednesday, January 29. On January 30 at 10 a.m., the nominee is scheduled to testify at 10 a.m. before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
RFK Jr.'s nomination is getting pushback from an array of sources, including those concerned about his stance on vaccines, physicians who have sent a letter of protest to the Senate and conservatives in the Republican party. led by former Vice President Mike Pence, who oppose his support for abortion access.
Pence's conservative group has launched a six-figure ad campaign opposing RFK Jr.'s confirmation and is urging Republicans to reject him, according to Forbes.
Meanwhile, an HHS gag order remains in place until February 1.
On Tuesday, Acting Secretary Dr. Dorothy A. Fink released a memo to the heads of staff and operating divisions telling them to halt all external communications.
Fink, an endocrinologist who heads HHS's Office on Women's Health, has been selected as interim HHS secretary.
"As the new Administration considers its plan for managing the federal policy and public communications processes, it is important that the President's appointees and designees have the opportunity to review and approve any regulations, guidance documents, and other public documents and communications (including social media). Therefore, at the direction of the new Administration and consistent with precedent, I am directing that you immediately take the following steps through February 1, 2025," according to the memo published by NPR.
These steps include refraining from sending regulations, guidance, announcements, press releases, social media posts and website posts until such communications have been "reviewed and approved by a Presidential appointee."
It includes documents intended for publication to the Office of the Federal Register.
The Office of the Executive Secretary has withdrawn from the Office of the Federal Register all documents that had not been published in the Federal Register to allow for such review and approval, the memo said.
Staff was told not to participate in any public speaking engagement until the event and material had been reviewed and approved by a presidential appointee.
Nothing in the guidance is intended to limit an employee's personal correspondence with members of Congress or other third parties, including an employee's whistleblower protected communications, the memo said.
The pause was first reported by The Washington Post.
Agencies subject to the HHS directive include the CDC, the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration, according to an Associated Press story published in STAT.
A former HHS official said Wednesday that it's not unusual for incoming administrations to pause agency communications for review. But typically, officials working on the president's transition team have the process for issuing documents running smoothly by inauguration day, the report said.
Email the writer: SMorse@himss.org
