Current:Home > Contact-usHouse GOP chair accuses HHS of "changing their story" on NIH reappointments snafu-DB Wealth Institute B2 Expert Reviews
House GOP chair accuses HHS of "changing their story" on NIH reappointments snafu
View
Date:2024-12-23 20:56:10
A top-ranking House Republican on Tuesday accused the Department of Health and Human Services of "changing their story," after the Biden administration defended the legality of its reappointments for key National Institutes of Health officials that Republicans have questioned.
The claim from Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, chair of the GOP-led House Energy and Commerce Committee, follows a Friday letter from the panel to HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra.
The panel alleged that 14 top-ranking NIH officials were not lawfully reappointed at the end of 2021, potentially jeopardizing billions in grants they approved.
It also raised concerns about affidavits Becerra signed earlier this year to retroactively ratify the appointments, in an effort the department said was only meant to bolster defenses against bad-faith legal attacks.
"Health and Human Services seems to keep changing their story. This is just their latest effort. I don't know if they don't know what the law is, or they are intentionally misleading," McMorris Rodgers told CBS News senior investigative correspondent Catherine Herridge on "America Decides" Tuesday.
In a statement to CBS News, an HHS spokesperson had criticized the panel's allegations as "clearly politically motivated" and said it stood "by the legitimacy of these NIH [Institutes and Centers] Directors' reappointments."
"As their own report shows, the prior administration appointed at least five NIH IC officials under the process they now attack," the spokesperson had said.
Asked about the Biden administration's response, McMorris Rodgers said that the previous reappointments were not relevant to the law the committee claims the Biden administration has broken.
And she said that she thinks that the administration is responding to a provision that only governs pay scale, not propriety of the appointments themselves.
"But what we are talking about is a separate provision in the law. It was included, it was added, in the 21st Century Cures to provide accountability to taxpayers and by Congress, it was intentional. And it is to ensure that these individuals actually are appointed or reappointed by the secretary every five years," McMorris Rodgers added.
Democrats on the panel have criticized their Republican counterparts' claims as "based on flawed legal analysis," saying that the law is "absolutely clear" that "the authority to appoint or reappoint these positions sits with the Director of the National Institutes of Health, who acts on behalf of the Secretary of Health and Human Services."
"The shift in appointment power from the Secretary of HHS to the NIH Director in 21st Century Cures was actually a provision Committee Republicans insisted on including in the law during legislative negotiations in 2016," Rep. Frank Pallone, the committee's ranking member, said in a statement Tuesday.
Alexander TinCBS News reporter covering public health and the pandemic.
veryGood! (2)
Related
- Pete Alonso's best free agent fits: Will Mets bring back Polar Bear?
- Russia’s Luna-25 spacecraft suffers technical glitch in pre-landing maneuver
- England vs. Spain: Time, odds, how to watch and live stream 2023 World Cup final
- Two people killed after car is struck by train in South Dakota
- The 15 quickest pickup trucks MotorTrend has ever tested
- WWE star Edge addresses questions about retirement after SmackDown win in hometown
- Georgia made it easier for parents to challenge school library books. Almost no one has done so
- 'The next Maui could be anywhere': Hawaii tragedy points to US wildfire vulnerability
- Guns smuggled from the US are blamed for a surge in killings on more Caribbean islands
- Microsoft pulls computer-generated article that recommended tourists visit the Ottawa Food Bank
Ranking
- Seattle man faces 5 assault charges in random sidewalk stabbings
- Dwayne Haskins' widow settles with driver and owners of dump truck that hit and killed him
- Nissan recalling more than 236,000 cars to fix a problem that can cause loss of steering control
- Former Minnesota governor, congressman Al Quie dies at 99
- Mandy Moore Captures the Holiday Vibe With These No Brainer Gifts & Stocking Stuffer Must-Haves
- Red Sox infielder Luis Urías makes history with back-to-back grand slams
- Japan’s Kishida to visit Fukushima plant to highlight safety before start of treated water release
- From turmoil to triumph, Spain clinches its first Women’s World Cup title with a win over England
Recommendation
Fate of Netflix Series America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders Revealed
Well, It's Always Nice to Check Out These 20 Secrets About Enchanted
Georgia football has its starting QB. Carson Beck has the job of replacing Stetson Bennett
Ron Cephas Jones Dead at 66: This Is Us Cast Pays Tribute to Late Costar
Michael Grimm, former House member convicted of tax fraud, is paralyzed in fall from horse
Stumbling Yankees lose seventh straight game: 'We're sick animals in a lot of ways'
Buccaneers QB John Wolford taken to hospital after suffering neck injury vs. Jets
Seattle Mariners' Julio Rodríguez extends historic hot streak after breaking a 1925 record