The Senate committee on health met this morning to consider three of the Trump administration's picks for top jobs at the Department of Health and Human Services, including deputy secretary and surgeon general.
Dr. Nicole Saphier, a radiologist, is the current nominee for the surgeon general position. Saphier is Trump's third pick for the position, often known as the nation's top doctor.
Also questioned was Chris Klomp, a former health tech executive who's been running much of the day-to-day operations of HHS since February. He's the nominee to serve as deputy secretary of HHS. Klomp is not a media personality or politician, but since joining the Trump administration initially as the director of the Center for Medicare, he's risen through the ranks with a reputation as a pragmatic and effective leader.
The third nominee up for consideration was Dr. Timothy Westlake, a Wisconsin-based emergency medicine physician, who was nominated to serve as assistant secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use.
Third time's the charm?
America has not had a surgeon general since President Biden left office in January 2025 — Trump has not been able to get a nominee through the senate this term.
Like Trump's initial pick, Dr. Janette Nesheiwat, Dr. Nicole Saphier is a former Fox News Channel contributor with a medical degree from a Caribbean university. She's a radiologist and the director of breast imaging at Memorial Sloan Kettering Monmouth in New Jersey.
Although she lacks a public health background, Saphier's nomination has not been met with the wall of opposition that Trump's first two nominees faced.
A key issue during the hearing was Saphier's views on vaccines. Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, a liver doctor and chair of the committee, grilled Saphier on the debunked link between vaccines and autism — with a focus on the MMR vaccine.
"I don't know what causes autism but I have not seen reputable evidence that suggests that vaccines cause autism," Saphier said.
Cassidy wasn't satisfied with that response.
"There's a little bit of a wiggle room there, and I'm so sensitive to this, because I've had wiggle room from people sitting there … who later use that wiggle room to do things which are quite contrary," he said.
Cassidy was likely referring to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose relationship with Congress, and with this committee in particular, is strained. Kennedy made promises during his own confirmation hearing that he has not fulfilled. His appearances before the committee have been infrequent, and when they happen, they've been chaotic and combative.
"I do not believe childhood vaccines cause autism," Saphier told the committee.
She also said the MMR vaccine is "the best tool we have to combat these infections, to save the most lives and to also create population herd immunity."
This is relatively consistent with Saphier's previous comments about vaccines and autism. In an op-ed last spring, Saphier criticized Kennedy's decision to look for the root cause of rising autism diagnoses by hiring anti-vaccine activist David Geier. "If we want lasting change in how we diagnose, treat and perhaps prevent autism, it must be built on a foundation of rigorous science, not controversy and conspiracy theories," she wrote.
Cassidy also questioned Saphier on the hepatitis B vaccine.
In the past, Saphier has questioned whether every child needs to get the hepatitis B vaccine at birth.
Today, Saphier said she supports universal hepatitis B vaccination, but did not directly answer Cassidy's questions about whether she agrees with Kennedy's efforts to get rid of the recommendation.
"The universal birth dose has been the most effective policy here in the United States for reducing infection," she said.
Vaping was another key topic at the hearing. Republican Sen. Susan Collins asked Saphier whether she agreed with the FDA's recent decision to allow the sale of fruit-flavored vapes.
Saphier said she doesn't "want anyone smoking anything," but "if a flavor can entice an adult to quit smoking cigarettes, then maybe it's something to be considered."
Dr. Jerome Adams, who served as surgeon general in the first Trump administration, told NPR in May that he expects Saphier to be confirmed.
Kennedy complimented Saphier's nomination in April on social media, calling her "a long-time warrior for the MAHA movement." She, in fact, wrote a book titled "Make America Healthy Again" published in 2020, years before Kennedy began promoting the slogan during the 2024 presidential election.
HHS number 2
A less public-facing but arguably more powerful position was also considered: deputy secretary of HHS.
The man nominated for that job is Chris Klomp. If confirmed, Klomp would be second-in-command to Secretary Kennedy. Klomp has served as Medicare director since April 2025, and in February was elevated to become "chief counselor" to Kennedy.
Republican senators on the Finance committee were friendly to Klomp during a hearing on Tuesday and questioned him about issues like drug pricing and Medicaid fraud. Democratic senators pushed him on HHS' response to ongoing measles outbreaks across the country. Despite the doubts sown by Kennedy and Trump about the efficacy and safety of the MMR vaccine, Klomp forcefully spoke in support of children getting the MMR to help stop the spread of measles.
In the hearing Wednesday, Cassidy asked Klomp about a need for transparency with regards to four recent measles-associated deaths in Pennsylvania. Kennedy took the unprecedented step of questioning the deaths, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention removed them from the agency's website. That's all raised concerns about the agency's reliability, and new director, Dr. Erica Schwartz.
Klomp defended Schwartz, but said the agency needs "a commitment to publish transparently on the website, and then a proper policy discussion or policy response."
"In this case," he said, "promoting vaccination for measles."
Finally, Dr. Timothy Westlake, currently serving as chief of staff at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, or SAMHSA, has been nominated to serve as assistant secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use. SAMHSA has had massive staff cuts since Kennedy took over as secretary, and his restructuring plan — which is currently on ice after legal challenges — would have eliminated the agency.
In the hearing, Westlake was emotional about substance-related overdoses. He said he himself has been in recovery for nearly three decades — something Kennedy has publicly discussed about himself as well.
Westlake spoke about personal connections to drug overdose deaths in children, and efforts to reduce fentanyl-related overdoses.
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