Wyden Statement on Finance Committee Nominations

WASHINGTON - Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., today issued the following statement today regarding the committee’s failure to include the nomination of Dr. Mary Wakefield to be deputy secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in a committee markup off the Senate floor.

“While the committee is taking an important step by approving three nominees for vital positions in the Social Security Administration and U.S. Tax Court, it is deeply disappointing to me that the committee did not consider the nomination of Dr. Mary Wakefield to be deputy secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services today,” Wyden said. “The process of moving her nomination forward has hit a wall for reasons that have absolutely nothing to do with her top-notch qualifications or her job.

“Dr. Wakefield has seen the American health care system from all sides, and you’d have a hard time finding someone more tested and better qualified for the position of deputy secretary. In a bipartisan affair more than two months ago, the Finance Committee came together to praise Dr. Wakefield and voice support for her nomination, but politics have gotten in the way. I urge my Republicans colleagues to reconsider their approach and schedule Dr. Wakefield’s nomination for quick and favorable consideration by the committee.”

Three nominees were favorably reported in the markup: Andrew Eanes to be deputy commissioner of Social Security, and Elizabeth Copeland and Vik Stoll to be judges at the U.S. Tax Court. In more than two decades, no nomination for HHS Deputy Secretary has gone longer without a vote by the Finance Committee than Dr. Wakefield's.

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