GOP prepares to battle Biden’s CDC nominee.

Six Republican senators, led by Sen. Ted Budd (R-N.C.), are urging President Joe Biden not to appoint former North Carolina Secretary of Public Health Mandy Cohen to succeed Rochelle Walensky as Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

“According to recent news reports, you intend to appoint Dr. Mandy Cohen as the next Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). We write to express our opposition to Dr. Cohen’s appointment and to urge you to withdraw your reported selection. Dr. Cohen is unfit for the position,” Budd said in a June 13 letter to Biden.

Joining Budd in signing the letter were Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Mike Lee (R-Utah), J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), and Mike Braun (R-Ind.). Also signing the letter were 22 Republican House members, led by Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas).

Why the Opposition?

• Politicizing Science: “Throughout her career, Dr. Cohen has politicized science, disregarded civil liberties, and spread misinformation about the efficacy and necessity of COVID vaccinations and the necessity of masks, during her time as the Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services,” the letter continued.
• Partisan Leftwing Politics: “Despite being tasked to serve in a purportedly nonpartisan agency, Dr. Cohen has an extensive history of publicly campaigning for Democrats and supporting radical, left-wing policies. In 2009, she served as the National Outreach Director for the group ‘Doctors for Obama,’ later known as ‘Doctors for America,’ a partisan political association that not only campaigned for Obama’s presidency but also endorsed an unconstitutional ban on semi-automatic rifles and lobbied to classify climate change as a ‘public health crisis,” the signers wrote.
• Unscientific COVID Restrictions: “She also has a history of engaging in partisan leftwing politics. As Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, Dr. Cohen was a proponent of unnecessary, unscientific COVID restrictions on school children, stating in July 2021 that ‘schools with students in K-8th grade should require all children and staff to wear masks indoors, regardless of vaccination status. Schools with students in 9th-12th grades should ensure that anyone who isn’t fully vaccinated, including students, wear a mask indoors.’”

It remains to be seen whether Biden will heed the call of these Republican lawmakers and withdraw Cohen’s nomination.