FDA nomination gets caught in political battle in Senate

Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., angry that Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson has withdrawn support for a bill to make pregnant women eligible for the State Children's Health Insurance Program, officially put a hold on President Bush's nominee to head the Food and Drug Administration Thursday afternoon until the secretary explains his reasoning.

Bingaman and 14 colleagues fired off a letter to Thompson Thursday asking for an explanation, two days after Thompson said in a letter to Senate Minority Whip Don Nickles, R-Okla., that he believed the bill is no longer necessary, now that the department has issued a rule making fetuses eligible for the SCHIP program.

"You have repeatedly stated that you were proceeding with the regulation to expand SCHIP to "unborn children" only because legislation to expand coverage to pregnant women had not passed," said the letter to Thompson. At several hearings this year and in letters and statements, Thompson had endorsed the legislation.

A Bingaman aide said the senator would not allow a vote to confirm Mark McClellan to the FDA post until Thompson responds to the letter. McClellan spent much of the day Thursday buttonholing senators outside the chamber.

Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., who has been pushing the bill with Bingaman, said she was "at a loss" to explain why Thompson might have changed his mind. "There's no way the regulation is more comprehensive" than the bill, she said, referring to Thompson's reasoning in the letter to Nickles. "If the object is to deliver healthy babies-I don't think the regulation alone meets that test," she said.

Backers of the bill point out that because only the fetus is technically eligible for benefits under the regulation, states would not be able to provide other care the pregnant woman might need, including pain relief during.

Abortion-rights supporters say they suspect they know why Thompson is now claiming the regulation is better. "It's anti-choice politics, pure and simple," said Kate Michelman of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League. "Under the regulations, the fetus and embryo are persons," she said. "That supports the administration's goal of creating a pathway to overturn Roe vs. Wade," the 1973 Supreme Court case that legalized abortion nationwide.

"We're very concerned this is just a reinforcement of our initial assessment that this is just a cynical effort to undermine reproductive rights for women," said Alice Weiss of the National Partnership for Women and Families.