Senate panel advances Trump surgeon general nominee

President Trump’s nominee for U.S. surgeon general advanced through a key Senate committee on Wednesday, setting up a glide path to a floor vote and confirmation.

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee voted to advance Nicole Saphier along party lines, 12-11. But because this is the final week the Senate is in session before November, her floor vote won’t be scheduled until after the midterm elections.

As part of the vote, the committee also advanced two Department of Health and Human Services nominations: Timothy Westlake to be assistant secretary for mental health and substance use, and Mary Lazare to be assistant secretary for aging.

Saphier is Trump’s third surgeon general nominee . She is a radiologist, former Fox News contributor and a health and wellness influencer who has amassed hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.

The surgeon general is primarily a messaging position, tasked with guiding the American people with public health advice. If confirmed, Saphier would become essentially the country’s top health spokesperson.

During her confirmation hearing , Saphier was pressed about Trump’s changes to the childhood vaccine schedule, and whether she would push back on Trump and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who have both suggested a link between autism and the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine, a position that has long been debunked.

Saphier would not openly refute Kennedy, even as HELP Chair Bill Cassidy (R-La.) told her not to equivocate. She said the MMR vaccine “is our greatest tool for combating measles” but wouldn’t give a yes or no answer when Cassidy asked her if a parent should vaccinate their child with the MMR shot.