[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 208 (Wednesday, December 10, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8599-S8600]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                       Nomination of Thomas Bell

  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, families across the country are struggling 
with skyrocketing costs--health costs, grocery costs, energy costs--but 
instead of working to address these challenges, Republicans are 
bringing yet another disastrous Trump nominee forward to support his 
agenda.
  Thomas March Bell has been nominated to be the independent watchdog 
at America's health Agency. There could not be a more dangerous choice 
for this position.
  I have long believed in the bipartisan coalition that works here to 
defend the integrity and the independence of the inspectors general.
  Senator Grassley once said:

       Inspectors General are intended to be equal opportunity 
     investigators and are designed to combat waste, fraud, abuse 
     and misconduct . . . without regard to political affiliation. 
     They are the ultimate [drainers of the swamp].

  One of Donald Trump's very first acts after taking office was to fire 
these independent investigators. In less than a year, he has gutted the 
integrity and independence of these Offices.
  A few years ago, this body overwhelmingly passed a law to secure the 
independence of the inspectors general in government, but 4 days into 
his second term, Donald Trump threw that law into the dumpster. He 
unlawfully fired nearly two dozen inspectors general across the 
government. Now he is replacing them with a wave of partisan operatives 
who stand ready to sabotage the independent oversight of inspectors 
general. Meanwhile, it has been crickets from Republicans. They are 
just happy to let him do it.
  No nominee has exemplified the assault on independent oversight quite 
like March Bell, the nominee to serve as Health and Human Services 
inspector general.
  I would be remiss if I didn't start off by noting that he is 
nominated to fill a position that is not legally vacant. He is 
nominated to fill the role of an inspector general that was illegally 
fired by Donald Trump.
  My Democratic colleagues and I on the Finance Committee urged 
Chairman Crapo to pause this nomination. It was met with radio silence. 
Now Republicans are pushing him through, unbothered by Donald Trump's 
complete disregard for the law that almost every one of them voted for 
just a few years ago. How times change.
  Let me talk about Mr. Bell's supposed qualifications. Once in a 
while, I get called a privacy hawk, and I never consider that an 
insult. I have worked for decades, often with my Republican colleagues, 
to safeguard the privacy of Oregonians and all Americans. I have come 
to believe there are few places where privacy is more important than in 
the healthcare system. That is why this nomination is so dangerous for 
HHS.
  Mr. Bell has made a career out of plastering people's private 
information in so many places, everywhere he can make it stick. When he 
was chief counsel for a select House panel, he made public a slew of 
information on reproductive healthcare providers and patients that he 
targeted with a sham investigation, all while they were being subjected 
to threats and physical harm.
  Staff and even Members of Congress raised multiple concerns about his 
behavior during this investigation. He couldn't care a lick.
  Those patients and providers saw a ninefold increase in violent 
threats during his investigation.
  When my staff asked Mr. Bell what steps he took to protect the 
targets of this critical investigation, he replied: ``None.'' That is 
unacceptable.
  I also note that the entire investigation was based on doctored, 
manipulated, and sometimes downright fabricated evidence, much of which 
he got from a personal connection.
  This wasn't oversight; this was raw partisanship intended to target 
and intimidate reproductive health providers and the women seeking 
their care.
  This is shocking behavior from the person nominated to oversee the 
privacy and protection of the private health information of Americans, 
but that is Mr. Bell's bread and butter. In questions for the record 
following his

[[Page S8600]]

nomination hearing, he refused to admit that Joe Biden won the 2020 
Presidential election. An inspector general needs a firmer grasp of 
reality than this.
  Even now, while he is nominated for a role that requires resolute 
independence, he is leading another sham investigation. This time, he 
is looking at ActBlue. This is nothing more than Donald Trump 
weaponizing the Federal Government to target political opponents with 
political enforcers. Instead of serving the American people, he is 
focused on carrying out the Trump agenda.
  If my colleagues think that this blatant partisanship is going to 
stop if he is confirmed as an independent inspector general, they are 
betting on the wrong horse. When Mr. Bell came before the Finance 
Committee, he said that he ``will examine, evaluate, audit, and 
investigate to support the initiatives of President Trump and Secretary 
Kennedy.'' Last time I looked, an inspector general isn't there to 
follow the President's marching orders; they are there to make sure 
that the train stays on track and that nobody is out there pilfering 
the boxcars.
  Mr. Bell has spent his whole career as a partisan operative. His 
confirmation will be a blank check to continue to make the healthcare 
system more expensive, more exclusionary, and less effective. It will 
all be done at the expense of the American people. This goes beyond the 
fox guarding the henhouse; it is giving the fox free rein to 
investigate henhouses from coast to coast. And while that might be the 
MO of this administration, it is dangerous for the American people, and 
it is exactly the opposite of what Congress set up inspectors general 
to do.
  By confirming Mr. Bell, the Republicans send yet another strong 
message to Donald Trump that he can use the Federal Government to 
settle personal scores.
  I urge my colleagues to respect the laws that we passed here and to 
respect the privacy, the decency, and the safety of patients and 
providers. I urge my colleagues to vote no on the dangerous Bell 
nomination.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington.