Heidi Overton’s Confirmation as FDA Commissioner Is in Doubt

Heidi Overton’s window is closing.

Overton’s prospects for being confirmed as head of the Food and Drug Administration are in doubt as Republicans furious with President Donald Trump return to Washington after their election walloping.

She faces a Senate Health Committee with recently ousted Republicans who may not be in the mood to give Trump any wins. She’s competing against dozens of other nominees in Republicans’ short window to do confirmations before losing majorities to Democrats early next year.

And in the last few days, Overton lost an advocate in the White House with the departure of former chief of staff Susie Wiles.

“You gotta wait, man, suspense,” Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chair Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana) told reporters on Monday. Asked whether he has concerns about Overton he said, “No comment.”

If Overton isn’t approved, the FDA could be without a confirmed commissioner for months. It has already been helmed by acting commissioner Kyle Diamantas ever since its former chief, Marty Makary, was forced out by the White House last spring.

Barring Overton’s confirmation, the administration plans to appoint former FDA Principal Deputy Commissioner Sara Brenner to replace Diamantas, a senior administration official told The Washington Sun on Tuesday. Brenner is director of the White House’s Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy.

Before nominating Overton, Trump had asked Diamantas to be the nominee, but he declined citing a desire to leave the administration by the end of the year to spend more time with his young family, the administration official said.

Overton can’t lose a single Republican vote in the Health Committee Cassidy controls. Cassidy, a doctor and strong vaccine advocate, has threatened to block Trump health nominees over the administration’s vaccine rollbacks, but so far has voted for all of them.

The Louisiana senator is on his way out the door after losing his Senate primary race to incoming freshman Julia Letlow, who was backed by Trump. So is Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), one of the committee’s two moderates whose support of Overton is also in question. Collins’ 30-year Senate career came to a crashing end last week when she was defeated by Democrat Troy Jackson.

Collins has remained mum on Overton’s nomination, and declined to tell The Sun her position Tuesday. Overton sidestepped questions during her confirmation hearing about how she will handle a review of abortion pill mifepristone.

Collins, who supports access to abortion, previously voted against Attorney General Todd Blanche’s nomination in part because of his willingness to restrict abortion access.

Even as Overton’s chances have narrowed, the stakes have widened. Once Democrats assume control of the House and Senate in January, it will be difficult to get any Trump nominees confirmed.

Overton is a top aide at the Domestic Policy Council, where she has at times stood in the way of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s efforts to tighten regulations over food and pesticides. But she has also helped advance Kennedy’s vaccine priorities, helping shepherd an executive order in August to narrow vaccine recommendations. Kennedy has backed her nomination.

Make America Healthy Again activists have opposed Overton for backing Trump’s order earlier this year to protect the manufacturing of glyphosate, a pesticide they say causes cancer.

In two interviews in recent days, Calley Means, a close ally of Kennedy’s, berated Overton for blocking priorities of Kennedy’s MAHA movement.

“Heidi Overton was the biggest block to MAHA policies I encountered in the government on healthy food, on mental health treatments like psychedelics,” Means told CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday. “She was a stone wall, and she really mindlessly, in my opinion, did whatever Susie told her to do.”

In a Friday interview with podcaster Joe Rogan, Means accused Overton of advancing vaping industry interests and working with the Justice Department to construct a legal argument for supporting liability protections for pesticide companies.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.