Senate Confirms Surgeon General

Note From Greetings: The Republicans in Congress obstructed confirming the Surgeon General for the first 10 months of Obama's administration. Now there are 23 childrens' deaths last week attributed to H1N1..more than died from the flu in ALL of last year. One possibly in the town near here)... and NOW they decide they can approve... Dr. Benjamin. I guess they don't want to be blamed for not having someone in charge during the deaths of all those kids... except that they're responsible for it. They could have confirmed her long ago, and she could have been on the case.

By Kate Phillips, NY Times, October 29, 2009

After much agitation earlier in the day, the Senate voted to confirm Dr. Regina Benjamin as the nation’s surgeon general on Thursday night amid a national emergency over the swine flu outbreak.

The Senate approved her on a voice vote. On Thursday morning, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada, had taken to the floor to complain that her nomination, along with others, had been held up. Republicans had stalled her confirmation over another issue, the so-called gag order imposed on insurance companies about whether they could inform Medicare beneficiaries about possible cuts to their benefits in the health care bills being negotiated in the House and Senate. The administration has since retreated on that issue.

With her nomination stalled, the Department of Health and Human Services had named Dr. Donald Weaver to be the acting surgeon general.

Dr. Benjamin is well known as the founder of the Bayou La Batre Rural Health Clinic in Bayou La Batre, Ala., and for keeping that clinic running during two hurricanes.