In First Hearing Appearance, HHS Secretary Thompson Addresses Senate Budget Committee

In his first official appearance before a congressional committee, HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson fielded questions on Medicare, a prescription drug benefit (see story #1), stem cell research and medical privacy during a meeting with the Senate Budget Committee March 6, CongressDaily/A.M. reports. The "overall theme" of the discussion centered on the Bush administration's proposals for Medicare reform, but during the meeting, Thompson received questions on a number of other issues, including one from Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) on embryonic stem cell research. Smith said that while he "shared Thompson's antiabortion views," he hoped Thompson would not bar federal funding of stem cell research, provided that the embryos involved in experiments "were not destroyed using federal funds." Thompson said that the issue is "under an independent legal review," adding that the review will serve as the basis for his decision on the matter. Thompson offered a "similarly noncommittal" response when asked by Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) about his position on medical privacy. Thompson said that the 60-day delay of the privacy regulations "was not his doing," and he attributed the postponement to "a mistake made by the department." Thompson also proposed using the delay time to reopen the rules for an additional 30-day comment period, adding that the department would then "either make changes or leave [them] alone." Responding to a question by Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) on whether he would seek to reverse former HHS Secretary Donna Shalala's decision not to implement prescription drug reimportation legislation passed last year, Thompson said, "I want to make sure we can adequately certify that [the law] will have the effect we both want." Stabenow has recently introduced legislation that would "clarify" the problems Shalala cited in the original reimportation bill. Thompson told Stabenow, "I hope your bill passes even if I can't go along [with the original law]." Thompson will "face a similar grilling" this morning before the House Budget Committee (Rovner, CongressDaily/A.M., 3/7).