US Senate Panel Advances Saphier for Surgeon General
The Facts
- The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee voted 12-11 along party lines Wednesday to advance Nicole Saphier's nomination as U.S. surgeon general, sending it to the full Senate for a final vote.
- Because this is the final week the Senate is in session before November, Saphier's floor vote is not expected to be scheduled until after the midterm elections. The committee vote had originally been set for Sept. 24 but was postponed.
- Saphier is a radiologist and director of breast imaging at Memorial Sloan Kettering Monmouth and a former Fox News contributor. She holds a medical degree from Ross University School of Medicine in Barbados and completed fellowships at the Mayo Clinic.
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The Spin
Democratic narrative
Putting someone who peddles abortion myths and backs needless limits on medicated abortion in charge of public health messaging is a betrayal of patients. Pregnant women are already dying while this nominee dodges any commitment to tell the truth about emergency care. Every senator who greenlit this will own the fallout at the ballot box. The Trump anti-science agenda has real consequences.
Republican narrative
A board-certified cancer specialist who literally wrote the book on chronic disease and prevention is exactly the voice the surgeon general's office needs. She affirmed under oath that the MMR shot is lifesaving and that vaccines don't cause autism — hardly the extremism painted by opponents. The bigger worry is a confirmation process where gatekeepers frustrate the MAHA agenda.
