The Senate Finance Committee has advanced the nominees for two key Department of Health and Human Services posts.
The committee members voted 15 to 12 to advance the nomination of Chris Klomp to serve as Deputy HHS Secretary and 14 to 13 to advance the nomination of Ge Bai, Ph.D., as Assistant Secretary for Planning & Evaluation (ASPE) at the agency. The nominees had addressed the committee on Sept. 15 alongside nominees for positions at the Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Tax Court.
Klomp is a rising star at HHS and currently leads the Department of Medicare at the agency. If his nomination is approved, he would become second-in-command at the department, a position that has been vacant since Jim O'Neill departed in February.
At that time, Klomp was named a senior adviser to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. President Donald Trump nominated Klomp to the deputy secretary post in June, saying in a post on his Truth Social platform that his upward trajectory at the agency "proves that he is a potential STAR."
Trump also said that the nomination was a joint decision made collaboratively by him, Kennedy and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz, M.D.
Committee Chair Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, said in a statement that during last week's hearing, Klomp "emphasized the importance of effective leadership and operational excellence" at HHS.
"I appreciated his commitment to empower HHS’ talented workforce to address the pressing health challenges facing our country," Crapo said.
Klomp also spoke before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee last week, where senators grilled him on Kennedy's vaccination policies as well as the agency's slow responsiveness to requests or questions from lawmakers.
He appeared alongside Nicole Saphier, M.D., Trump's nominee for surgeon general, and Timothy Westlake, M.D., nominated for assistant secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use. Both of their appointments will be considered by the HELP Committee, unlike Klomp's.
Meanwhile, Bai is an accounting and health policy professor at Johns Hopkins who currently serves as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation. She holds Ph.D. in accounting and has testified before multiple legislative committees for her expertise in health economics.
As ASPE, she will be tasked with advising HHS leaders on policy proposals, overseeing departmental research projects and conducting key strategic planning. She was nominated FOR the post in June.
"Dr. Bai’s focus on sound research and analysis will improve the value Americans receive from our healthcare system," Crapo said in the statement.