Nomination of Robert Califf

Floor Speech

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Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I want to start by expressing my appreciation to Dr. Califf for accepting this nomination and continuing to offer his expertise in service of families and communities nationwide.

I am glad this evening to have the opportunity to talk about the progress the FDA has made in recent years, the challenges that lie ahead, and why I believe Dr. Califf has the necessary leadership, background, and experience to guide the FDA at this very important time.

The FDA oversees a quarter of all the goods sold in the United States, including more than $1 trillion in medical devices, cosmetics, and supplements. So the FDA Commissioner has a very critical responsibility to support health and well-being in this country.

I am pleased that in recent years important progress has been made to improve FDA's services for patients and families, from approving the highest number of new drugs and biologics in 2014, to making progress toward a 21st-century food safety system as the Food Safety Modernization Act is implemented. These are important steps that have no doubt made a difference for families, but the FDA still faces significant challenges as we look ahead.

As I have discussed with Dr. Califf, the FDA must continue to encourage the development of safe, effective cures and treatments for the chronic illnesses that impact far too many families across the country. The agency should prioritize tackling the threat of antibiotic resistant infections, such as the ones linked to the contaminated medical devices in my home State, and it should do more to ensure patients can always trust that the medical devices used in their care are safe and effective, including by building a robust postmarketing surveillance system for devices. The FDA should continue to strengthen its generic drug and biosimilar programs and needs to play a role in ensuring that all patients and families have access to the prescription drugs they need.

In addition, our country faces urgent public health challenges that the FDA must help to address. To name a few, we need to move forward on making sure families have access to nutritional information and on ensuring our food supply is both safe and healthy. We need to put all the agency tools to work to stop tobacco companies from targeting our children. And we need to tackle the epidemic of opioid abuse that is ending and ruining lives in communities nationwide.

I was pleased to see that the FDA put forward an action plan to help protect our communities from that crisis, and I look forward to working together with all of our colleagues to address that area.

Another critical priority is ensuring the FDA always puts science over politics. As some on the floor today will remember, several of my colleagues fought long and hard to ensure that medical expertise, not ideology, governed decisionmaking on the sale of Plan B over the counter. Women and families have to be able to trust the FDA to not play politics with their health.

After careful consideration and review, I am confident that Dr. Califf would contribute leadership and expertise as we work to tackle all of these challenges. He is a strong nominee for the role of FDA Commissioner. He has an impressive history of leadership and management experience, especially at Duke University, where he led one of our largest academic clinical research organizations. He would bring to this new role a record of advancing medical breakthroughs on challenging illnesses through clinical trials and working to translate NIH lab discoveries into usable medical treatments for patients. Our review of his record demonstrates a longstanding commitment to transparency in relationships with industry and working to ensure academic integrity. Dr. Califf has made clear he will continue to uphold those values and prioritize a strong, independent FDA as Commissioner. His nomination received letters of support from 128 different physician and patient organizations, as well as the strong, bipartisan support of the members of our HELP Committee.

I have approached this nomination focused on the best interests of families and communities in my State and across the country and in making sure the FDA puts them first in all its work. I believe Dr. Califf would be a valuable partner in this effort as FDA Commissioner. So I encourage all of our colleagues to join me in supporting his nomination, and I look forward to working with all of us to strengthen health and well-being for the families and communities we serve.

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