Six Republican senators led by Sen. Ted Budd (R-N.C.) are urging President Joe Biden to not appoint former North Carolina Secretary of Public Health Dr. Mandy Cohen to succeed Rochelle Walensky as Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Joining Budd in signing the letter were Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Mike Lee (R-Utah), J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), and Mike Braun (R-Ind.). Also signing the letter were 22 Republican House members, led by Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas).
The other House signers included Reps. Dan Bishop (R-N.C.), Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), Michael Cloud (R-Texas), Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), Mary Miller (R-Ill.), Scott Perry (R-Pa.), Troy Nehls (R-Texas), Aaron Bean (R-Fla.), Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.), Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.), Eric Burlison (R-Mo.), Debbie Lesko (R-Ariz.), Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.), Ronny Jackson (R-Texas), Josh Brecheen (R-Okla.), Diana Harshbarger (R-Tenn.), Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.), Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), and Randy Weber (R-Texas).
“Throughout her career, Dr. Cohen has politicized science, disregarded civil liberties, and spread misinformation about the efficacy and necessity of COVID vaccinations and the necessity of masks, during her time as the Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services,” the letter reads.
“She also has a history of engaging in partisan leftwing politics. As Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, Dr. Cohen was a proponent of unnecessary, unscientific COVID restrictions on school children, stating in July 2021 that ’schools with students in K–8th grade should require all children and staff to wear masks indoors, regardless of vaccination status. Schools with students in 9th–12th grades should ensure that anyone who isn’t fully vaccinated, including students, wear a mask indoors.'”
The letter signers also pointed to what they described as Cohen’s highly partisan background.
“Despite being tasked to serve in a purportedly nonpartisan agency, Dr. Cohen has an extensive history of publicly campaigning for Democrats and supporting radical, left-wing policies. In 2009, she served as the National Outreach Director for the group ‘Doctors for Obama,’ later known as ‘Doctors for America,’ a partisan political association that not only campaigned for Obama’s presidency but also endorsed an unconstitutional ban on semi-automatic rifles and lobbied to classify climate change as a ‘public health crisis,” the signers wrote.
“She also participated in the misleading ‘White Coat Rally’ at the White House supporting Obamacare as a tense debate raged and as recently as August of 2022 hosted fundraisers for Democrats running for office.”
The CDC director position is an odd one in the federal lineup of highly visible public figures because, unlike virtually all other major federal agencies, the Senate presently doesn’t have a confirmation role. Biden can simply appoint his choice as an executive-level employee while ignoring congressional opposition. But that will change in January 2025 as the 2022 Omnibus Spending Act included a provision requiring a Senate confirmation process.
A Cohen appointment wouldn’t be a surprise as she worked closely with President White House chief of staff Jeff Zients during the Obama administration when she served as chief operating officer and chief of staff for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS). She also served a stint as acting director of the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight CMS.
Whoever Biden ultimately selects to succeed Walensky, that individual will likely be a key adviser as the president decides how his administration should respond to the proposed international agreement that would, according to critics, cede too much control over U.S. public health policy during a future pandemic to the World Health Organization.
