Sanders: No ‘immediate’ plans for confirmation hearing on Biden NIH pick

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said he has no immediate plans to hold a confirmation hearing on the Biden administration’s nominee to lead the National Institutes of Health (NIH) amid a standoff over drug pricing.

Sanders told The Hill in a brief interview there won’t be a confirmation hearing for Monica Bertagnolli “in the immediate future. We have a whole lot of stuff we have to do.”

Bertagnolli, a cancer surgeon who has led the National Cancer Institute since October, was nominated last month. The top post of NIH has been vacant since Francis Collins left the agency in December 2021. Lawrence Tabak currently serves as acting director.

Sanders said he will oppose any health agency nominee until he gets a “robust plan” from the White House about lowering the cost of prescription drugs.

“Something has got to be done or else we are going to bankrupt Medicare and make life very difficult for a lot of people. So I look forward to hearing a robust plan from the administration about how we’re going to do that,” Sanders said.

Sanders is chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, so the administration won’t be able to confirm any health nominees without his support. NIH is currently the only health agency with a Senate-confirmable vacancy at the top.

Sanders last month sent a letter to the White House saying he would oppose any nominee to a major federal health agency “who is not prepared to significantly lower the price of prescription drugs.”

Sanders on Tuesday said that commitment needs to come from the White House.

“Nominees don’t do these things on their own. It’s an administration policy. They follow that out. So we’re waiting for the administration to tell the American people what they’re going to do to significantly lower the outrageous cost of prescription drugs,” he said.

The White House in a statement said President Biden shares Sanders’s concerns over drug prices, which is “why he signed into law the Inflation Reduction Act, the most consequential law addressing the high cost of prescription drugs.”

The law allows Medicare to negotiate prices for certain drugs directly with drug companies. It also caps the out-of-pocket cost of insulin at $35 a month for seniors on Medicare.

Sanders has indicated in the past he thinks the law doesn’t go far enough. In a statement when the law was passed last summer, Sanders said he considers the drug negotiation provision a “small step,” especially since it only starts with 10 drugs and doesn’t kick in until 2026.