Top Alabama Physician Confirmed As Surgeon General

October 30, 2009 11:58 a.m. EST

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - The Senate has confirmed Regina Benjamin, a top African-American doctor who founded a clinic on the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast, as Surgeon General. The approval comes less than a week after the White House declared a national emergency for the H1N1 flu virus, and a month after Republicans vowed to block all Health Department nominees because of the healthcare reform debate.

The 53-year-old Benjamin was approved by voice vote, or unanimous consent, on Thursday. She was confirmed by the Senate Health, Labor and Pensions Committee by a unanimous vote on Oct. 7.

Benjamin has been CEO of the Bayou La Batre Rural Health Clinic in the shrimping village of Bayou La Batre, Alabama since 1990. She is the immediate former chairperson of the Federation of State Medical Boards of the United States, a national non-profit representing the 70 medical boards, and the first black woman, to be elected to the American Medical Association Board of Trustees.

She fills a post for which the administration's first choice was CNN's chief health correspondent, Sanjay Gupta, who was being vetted by Obama officials when he withdrew from consideration in March.

Benjamin was nominated by President Barack Obama in July, but Republicans the next month put a hold on all health nominees, saying the administration was instructing companies offering Medicare Advantage to seniors that a Democratic healthcare reform proposal would cut benefits.

"America's 11 million seniors enrolled in the Medicare Advantage program deserve to be informed of any potential actions that could be taken by the federal government that could have broad implications on the Medicare program," Republicans said in a letter to Health Sec. Kathleen Sebelius on Sept. 24. "Until your department rescinds its gag order and allows seniors to receive information about matters before Congress, we will not consent to time agreements on the confirmation of any nominees to your department or associated agencies."

The Health Department issued a memo earlier this month telling companies they can provide information about legislation that affects them if their customers agree to receive such information.

"The administration was admitting that this ban amounted to a gag rule - a gag rule that had no place in a society that prizes free speech and open debate," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said in an Oct. 19 floor speech. "The administration's reversal is welcome. However, many questions remain about the initial order itself and about the administration's willingness to constrain the free flow of information to seniors about their healthcare."

But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) blasted Republicans on Thursday for holding up the nomination of Benjamin and other nominees for reasons "completely unrelated to their qualification."

"President Obama has 228 nominations awaiting confirmation -- 228," Reid said. "During the first Bush administration, there was not a problem; during the Reagan years, not a problem... In the first four months of the Bush administration, we were in the minority [but] there wasn't a single filibuster. But in the first four months of the Obama administration, Republicans filibustered eight of his nominees."

"We know Regina Benjamin is eminently qualified," the Democratic leader continued. "We have a flu pandemic. We have other issues facing our country, and we need the top doctor. We don't have it. Why? Just because the Republicans don't want anyone to move forward."

Reid later in the day asked for unanimous consent for Benajmin's nomination, and Rep. Mike Enzi (R-WY), the top Republican in the HELP Committee, spoke in support of her confirmation.

"The mission of the Surgeon General is to be America's '`top doctor,'' and to act as the chief medical educator and communicator on public health and safety issues," Enzi said. "Dr. Benjamin has a distinguished career in providing health care to low-income individuals. We also share an understanding of the unique challenges facing people in rural and underserved areas. I am confident that Dr. Benjamin will be able to articulately inform Americans on matters of health safety."