FDA nominee faces Senators

Jane Henney, President Clinton's nominee to head the FDA, received a relatively warm reception during the first round of questions at her confirmation hearing Wednesday before the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee. But her nomination remains in some peril.

While several Republicans asked pointed questions about Henney's views on RU486, the controversial abortion pill awaiting final FDA approval, the more serious obstacle appears to be the congressional calendar.

"Time is a problem," said a spokesman for Labor and Human Resources Chairman James Jeffords, R-Vt. Because committee members can submit written questions for five days following the hearing, after allowing time for her to respond, "the committee can't vote earlier than the week after next," he said. The Jeffords spokesman blamed the Clinton administration for sending up Henney's nomination so late in the session.

But committee Democrats say Republicans are purposely stalling. After subjecting her to 140 written questions, the committee then scheduled its hearing 71 days after receiving the nomination.

"We've never seen anything quite like this," said a spokesman for Labor and Human Resources ranking member Edward Kennedy, D-Mass.

Kennedy's office had the Congressional Research Service conduct a study showing how major health nominations have slowed in the 105th Congress. The last confirmation of an HHS official, Surgeon General David Satcher, took 151 days; Health Care Financing Administrator Nancy-Ann Min DeParle's nomination took 136 days. By contrast, when Kennedy chaired the committee, former FDA Commissioner David Kessler was confirmed only nine days after the nomination was received.

While no major opposition to Henney's nomination has emerged, it is clear that abortion opponents intend to hammer on the RU486 issue. At the hearing, Henney, a former FDA deputy under Kessler, noted she was not involved in the agency's deliberations on the drug, but added that she was not troubled by the fact that reviewers did not examine the safety of the product on the developing fetus.

FDA reviewers, Henney said, "are asked to review the safety and efficacy for the intended use as defined by the manufacturer ... and the intended use is the termination of an early pregnancy."