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dalton99a

(87,275 posts)
Thu Mar 13, 2025, 09:37 AM Thursday

White House Withdraws Nominee for C.D.C. Director

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/13/health/cdc-weldon-confirmation-hearing.html

White House Withdraws Nominee for C.D.C. Director
Dr. Dave Weldon was to have appeared on Thursday in a confirmation hearing before the Senate health committee. He has close ties to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the new health secretary.
By Apoorva Mandavilli and Sheryl Gay Stolberg
March 13, 2025 Updated 9:27 a.m. ET

The White House has decided to withdraw the nomination of its pick to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Dave Weldon, a Republican former congressman, just hours before he was to have appeared at a Senate confirmation hearing, according to a White House official and an administration official.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to disclose the decision, did not offer an explanation. But it became clear to the White House that Dr. Weldon did not have the votes in the full Senate to be confirmed, and Dr. Weldon said in an interview that he learned of the decision last night.

Dr. Weldon, 71, was to appear before the Senate health committee on Thursday at 10 a.m., the first time an agency director would have been subject to the confirmation process. The decision to withdraw the nomination was first reported by Axios.

His hearing was set to take place amid significant measles outbreaks in Texas and New Mexico, which have infected more than 250 people and claimed two lives; a flu season that led to record numbers of hospitalizations; and the potential for a bird flu epidemic.

He had repeatedly questioned the safety of the measles vaccine and criticized the C.D.C. for not doing enough to prove that vaccines are safe.

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White House Withdraws Nominee for C.D.C. Director (Original Post) dalton99a Thursday OP
Wow some pushback newdeal2 Thursday #1
As messed up as it is this we will take as the norm now underpants Thursday #2
There have to be pictures of some shocking wrongdoing Prairie Gates Thursday #3
Probably Matt Gaetz-level stuff dalton99a Thursday #4
There are literally decades of evidence that the measles vaccine VMA131Marine Thursday #5
Facing bipartisan opposition, White House abandons outlandish CDC nominee LetMyPeopleVote Thursday #6
He'd fit right in with the rest of the kakistocracy Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin Thursday #7

underpants

(189,320 posts)
2. As messed up as it is this we will take as the norm now
Thu Mar 13, 2025, 09:43 AM
Thursday

Good old Clustertrump. I feel an “Infrastructure Week” coming soon.

VMA131Marine

(4,901 posts)
5. There are literally decades of evidence that the measles vaccine
Thu Mar 13, 2025, 09:48 AM
Thursday

is both safe and effective, along with all the other vaccines that are typically given out every year. Prior to the advent of the vaccine there were 500 measles deaths per year in the U.S. on a much smaller population base than today. There have been no deaths attributed to the MMR vaccine. … and it doesn’t cause autism.

LetMyPeopleVote

(159,918 posts)
6. Facing bipartisan opposition, White House abandons outlandish CDC nominee
Thu Mar 13, 2025, 02:01 PM
Thursday

If Matt Gaetz was Donald Trump’s first personnel fiasco, Dave Weldon is definitely his second.
https://bsky.app/profile/stevebenen.com/post/3lkbhabdnks2u

Asked about the demise of his misguided CDC nomination, Dave Weldon said, "It is a shock, but, you know, in some ways, it's relief."

Oddly enough, I had roughly the same reaction.



https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/facing-bipartisan-opposition-white-house-abandons-outlandish-cdc-nomin-rcna196236

The list has now grown from one to two, as a different controversial former Republican congressman from Florida exits the stage. NBC News reported:

The White House has withdrawn the nomination of former Rep. Dave Weldon, R-Fla., whom President Donald Trump had chosen to serve as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a senior administration official said. The development came just before Weldon was set to testify at his Senate confirmation hearing at 10 a.m. ET before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.


.....As we discussed late last year, Trump chose a variety of controversial figures for key public health positions, but Weldon was one of the toughest to defend. As far as the president was concerned, the CDC should be led by a longtime opponent of vaccines, who refused to abandon false theories, even in the face of overwhelming evidence.....

Why some Senate Republicans were comfortable with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — an anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist with his own ridiculous beliefs about science, medicine, and public health, who is now health and human services secretary — but not Weldon is unclear.

Asked for his reaction to the developments, Weldon told The New York Times, “It is a shock, but, you know, in some ways, it’s relief.”

Oddly enough, I had roughly the same reaction to the demise of his nomination.
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