After the Ebola crisis, and after a year of waiting, it took an attempt by Ted Cruz to derail a bill on Friday to allow the Senate to confirm a Surgeon General.
Meet Vivek Murthy. He is pre-eminently qualified to be America’s Surgeon General. Co-founder of Doctors for America and VISIONS, an HIV/AIDS non-profit, Murthy graduated magna cum laude from Harvard – in three years. He has an M.D. and an M.B.A. from Yale, and has a practice in Boston, where he is a physician at the prestigious Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
Dr. Murthy was nominated by President Obama in November of 2013. He was endorsed by two prior Surgeon Generals, and more than 100 medical groups.
What held up a Senate vote for the past 13 months?
This:
Yes, a two-year old tweet.
Dr. Murthy, like many Americas, see the deaths of 83 people each and every day from guns, and the 140 who go to the hospital each and every day for a gun wound, to be a “health care issue.”
Many would classify it as far more severe.
But because of that tweet, the NRA was able to block a vote on a Surgeon General for America.
NRA spokesperson Andrew Arulanandan told Talking Points Memo today, ahead of the vote, that its “position hasn’t changed. America’s next surgeon general should not be a political operative whose professional inexperience has been a source of bipartisan concern.”
Murthy was confirmed by what is in confirmations a slim margin: 51-43.
How did Sen. Ted Cruz open the door – totally unintentionally – to allow a vote on Murthy? Here’s how Talking Points Memo explained it.
It began on Friday evening, when Reid and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) were close to securing an agreement to quickly vote on the $1.1 trillion “CRomnibus” spending bill to avert a government shutdown. Cruz, along with Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), blindsided Republican leaders by objecting and dragging out the process as they demanded a vote to defund Obama’s executive actions on immigration.
What Cruz didn’t count on was Reid instead seizing on the occasion — which forced the Senate to stay in session for procedural votes — to move forward with starting the confirmation vote clock on a whopping 24 Obama nominations that otherwise might have been jettisoned. The Texan’s tactic angered numerous Republican colleagues.
“I think most Republicans think that Christmas came early for Democrats,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said, according to Roll Call, blaming Cruz. “I haven’t seen Harry smile this much in years, and I didn’t particularly like it.”
GOP U.S. Senator from Wyoming, John Barrasso said, “Americans don’t want a surgeon general who might use this position of trust to promote his own personal campaign against the Second Amendment of the Constitution.”Â
After today’s vote, President Obama had optimistic words.
“I applaud the Senate for confirming Vivek Murthy to be our country’s next Surgeon General,” the President said in a statement. “As ‘America’s Doctor,’ Vivek will hit the ground running to make sure every American has the information they need to keep themselves and their families safe.  He’ll bring his lifetime of experience promoting public health to bear on priorities ranging from stopping new diseases to helping our kids grow up healthy and strong.  Vivek will also help us build on the progress we’ve made combatting Ebola, both in our country and at its source.  Combined with the crucial support for fighting Ebola included in the bill to fund our government next year, Vivek’s confirmation makes us better positioned to save lives around the world and protect the American people here at home.”
No word from Ted Cruz.
Â
Image via Facebook
Vivek Murthy bio information via Wikipedia
Â