Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass) on Thursday will press West Virginia state Senator Mike Stuart (R) about how his beliefs on subjects like vaccines and abortion will affect how he probably serves as basic counsel of the Division of Well being and Human Companies.
Stuart supported a state bill that might have allowed for exemptions in West Virginia’s faculty vaccination coverage. He has additionally referred to himself as “unapologetically pro-life” and has been proud to be endorsed by West Virginians for Life in a publish on X.
President Donald Trump tapped Stuart to function the highest lawyer for the company in February, and the Senate Finance Committee is scheduled to contemplate his nomination Thursday at 10 a.m.
If confirmed, Stuart can be accountable for giving authorized recommendation to Well being and Human Companies (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Deputy Secretary Jim O’Neil, who’ve already instituted quite a few modifications to the company, like sweeping layoffs and firings.
“Your interpretation of the regulation performs a important function in making certain that HHS is attaining its purpose of ‘defending the well being of all People,'” Warren wrote in a letter to Stuart shared first with The Hill.
“However given your ideological views, zealous for restrictions on abortion, and document of anti-vaccine skepticism, I’m involved that, quite than faithfully following the regulation, you’ll greenlight Trump Administration insurance policies that can endanger public well being, strip People of their abortion rights, and trigger tens of millions of People to lose their medical insurance.”
Within the letter, Warren asks Stuart to return to the listening to with written solutions to greater than 70 questions on vaccines, abortion entry, staffing cuts, Medicaid and the implementation of the “One Huge Lovely Invoice Act.”
“HHS carries an infinite duty as its companies and programming contact tens of millions of American lives daily,” Warren’s letter reads. “The chief authorized adviser to the Secretary of HHS should have the ability to, with out bias, successfully advise the Secretary to make sure that all actions by HHS are in accordance with the regulation.”