The Senate on Tuesday confirmed Dr. Martin A. Makary as commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration and Dr. Jay Bhattacharya as director of the National Institutes of Health, installing two critics of the medical establishment to influential posts amid a Trump administration campaign to cut spending at health agencies. In a 56-to-44 vote, Dr. Makary was confirmed to lead an agency with broad regulatory authority over products including drugs and vaccines, putting him at the center of debates about the safety of the abortion pill and a wide range of inoculations. Dr. Bhattacharya’s confirmation — 53 to 47, on a party-line vote — places him at the head of the world’s premier medical research agency, which lately has been battered by cuts to staffing and orders to pause or cancel vast research funding.
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