Marty Makary, a career surgeon and President Trump’s nominee to run the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), faced senators in his confirmation hearing on Thursday, aligning himself with the Make America Healthy Again agenda but stopping short of outright endorsing some recent, controversial decisions.

Makary’s hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, like the hearing for Jay Bhattacharya for the National Institutes of Health the day before, was relatively tame, especially compared to the confirmation process of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr.

A public policy researcher and professor at Johns Hopkins University, Makary was a prominent skeptic of COVID-19 lockdowns and frequently appeared on Fox News during the pandemic. He leaned on his career in research when making his case before the committee.

“I believe in the scientific process. In addition, I also believe that we can use common sense,” Makary said in his opening remarks. “President Trump and Secretary Kennedy's focus on healthy foods has galvanized a grassroots movement in America. Childhood obesity is not a willpower problem, and the rise of early-onset Alzheimer's is not a genetic cause. We should be and we will be addressing food as it impacts our health.”

Democrats hammered Makary on recent moves by the Trump administration to cut FDA staff and pressed him on plans to exercise his authority over drugs such as the abortion pill mifepristone.

Ranking Member Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) left before the question portion of the hearing began, but said in his remarks that “it does not matter who the next FDA commissioner is. I think everybody on this committee and the people of America understand who is running the government,” referring to Elon........

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