The nomination of David Michaels as the next head of OSHA cleared a key hurdle today -- passage out the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Michaels now awaits a vote in the full Senate.
The HELP Committee approved the nomination on a voice vote, but two committee Republicans, Sens. Tom Coburn, OK, and Richard Burr, NC, had their votes recorded as “no.” The committee acted on the nomination without the benefit of holding a confirmation hearing, a move panned by both critics and some supporters. But the committee chairman, Sen. Tom Harkin, D-IA, contended that Michaels' views were widely known and committee members had the opportunity to fully vet the nomination and vote as they believed appropriate.
Michaels' nomination has been controversial as a number of conservative and business groups have voiced their opposition in a barrage of talking points over recent weeks. Opponents have decried Michaels, an epidemiologist and interim chair of the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at the George Washington University’s School of Public Health and Health, as being out of the mainstream for what they said is his zeal in applying unproven science to business regulation.
More: Nov. 18 HELP Committee hearing on Michaels Nomination (vote comes at the end)
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