Matt Gunterman October 16th, 2007

You’ll recall that this summer Pres. Bush nominated Kentucky’s very won Dr. James W. Holsinger to be the nation’s next surgeon general. The nomination immediately drew condemnation from progressives because of Holsinger’s rather loopy views on human sexuality. He also ran into some trouble because of his poor record in the area of Veterans health care, too. It appears that Holsinger is now dead in the water. And that’s something to be thankful for.

Surgeon general nominee on hold

By Justin Thompson
Scripps Howard News Service

WASHINGTON - Three months after Dr. James Holsinger answered some sharp questions from senators, his nomination to be the next surgeon general appears to be on life support.

The 68-year-old Kentuckian, whose critics cried foul about a paper he wrote years ago condemning homosexual sex, needs Senate confirmation to become the nation’s 18th surgeon general.

Melissa Wagoner, a spokeswoman for Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., who chairs the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said members are waiting for the nominee to answer follow-up questions. Wagoner said she could not release the questions while Holsinger continues to work on them.

Craig Orfield, the committee’s communications director, said he knows of no date for a vote.

A spokeswoman for the White House said Holsinger is working on the questions but could not say when he would respond.

[...]

“From the tea leaves that I am reading, there is not a lot of interest in getting a vote,” he said.

His organization has neither opposed nor endorsed Holsinger’s nomination, Farrell said.

He would not speculate on whether Holsinger might remove his name from consideration or if the administration might ask him to do so.

He said he expected that Dr. Steven Galson, who has served as acting surgeon general for the last three months, would continue in that role through the end of the year.

[...]

ome of Holsinger’s opponents said the White House might support him in theory, but in practice, has done little to move him closer to becoming surgeon general.

“They’re not pushing to get this through,” said Becky Dansky, federal legislative director for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

“It’s kind of dead in the water at this point.”

But the Bush administration said it has not reconsidered its endorsement of Holsinger.

“The White House certainly still supports him,” said Emily Lawrimore, a White House spokeswoman.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., of Louisville, who introduced Holsinger to the committee in July, said then that the nomination is “the right prescription to help America confront today’s health challenge.” This week, a McConnell spokesman said that the Louisville Republican continues to support Holsinger.

McConnell’s fellow Kentucky Republican, Sen. Jim Bunning of Southgate, also championed Holsinger at the hearing, but has since remained silent. A spokesman for Bunning said the senator remains steadfast in his support.

Unfortunately for Holsinger, neither McConnell nor Bunning is a member of Kennedy’s committee, and Sen. Michael Enzi, R-Wyo., the committee’s ranking Republican, has not said how he would vote.

[...]

Dansky puts those chances at “slim to none.” Three of the Democrats on the committee - Democrats Barack Obama of Illinois, Hillary Clinton of New York and Chris Dodd of Connecticut - seem unlikely to vote to confirm Holsinger and risk a backlash from gay and lesbian voters against their presidential campaigns, she said. And Kennedy has a record of voting for gay and lesbian rights.

Other committee members, including Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., have not publicly announced how they would vote, though Brown and Mikulski questioned Holsinger aggressively during the hearing.

Mikulski clashed with him when he was the VA’s chief medical director, accusing him of being apathetic toward what she called the system’s mistreatment of women.

“There is no reason to think he is going to make it out of committee,” Dansky said.

“The votes just aren’t there.”

***

• James W. Holsinger , Surgeon General
• Comments(2)