[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Pages 15852-15853]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



  RELEASING THE HOLD ON TWO NOMINEES FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 
                             HUMAN SERVICES

  Mr. SPECTER. Madam President, I had written placing a hold on two 
nominees from the Department of Health and Human Services. I wrote that 
last week on Janet Rehnquist, on July 27. She is up for inspector 
general of the Department of Health and Human Services; and Alex 
Michael Azar, II, up for general counsel of the Department of Health 
and Human Services.

[[Page 15853]]

  I placed a hold on them and had notified them on that day, last 
Friday. I had a meeting with them on Monday and I have written today 
releasing the hold.
  The hold was placed on them on a matter that is ongoing. That is 
because, when we had the Budget Appropriation hearings on the National 
Institutes of Health, Senator Harkin and I had written--I was chairman 
at the time--to the Institutes asking questions about stem cell 
research. The replies we got were censored, and we finally laboriously 
got the originals and found that information very favorable to stem 
cell research had been deleted. I asked Secretary Thompson about that 
and got an unsatisfactory answer, which I need not go into in any 
detail about here. And then NIH had submitted a 200-page report to the 
Department of Health and Human Services, and that report on the report 
was published in the New York Times in mid-June.
  Senator Harkin and I could not get it until less than 24 hours after 
we had a hearing on stem cells on that report 2 weeks ago. I talked to 
the inspector general nominee, Janet Rehnquist, about assurances that 
if she were confirmed that she would, as inspector general of HHS, 
conduct a thorough inquiry into why those reports were censored.
  I received a letter in reply, and I need not go into detail now, and 
it is really not determinative for consideration because I am advised 
by the chairman of the Finance Committee they will not be reported out 
before recess with respect to Mr. Azar. I asked him about his standards 
as general counsel to render an opinion on stem cell research, which 
would be an objective opinion. The general counsel, under the previous 
administration, had rendered an opinion that the Federal statute barred 
extracting stem cells from the embryos, but did not ban research once 
they had been extracted.
  The President has taken a contrary position, and funding has been 
held up. I wanted assurances from Mr. Azar that his determination would 
be an objective determination. He has written to me. It is not ripe for 
a final determination, but I wanted to comment because of the 
importance of the subject and state publicly that the holds have been 
withdrawn as far as this Senator is concerned.
  I thank the Chair especially for her diligence in presiding.
  I yield the floor.

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