HELP COMMITTEE CLEARS CRAWFORD FOR TOP FDA JOB

The full Senate will likely muster enough votes to override promised holds by three senators on the nomination of Lester Crawford to become permanent FDA commissioner, a key Republican senator said after a Senate health panel approved Crawford's confirmation by a largely party line voice vote.

The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee recently recommended Crawford for the job he has performed as acting commissioner since March 2004. The nomination will now go before the full Senate, where it faces threatened holds by Sens. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Tom Coburn (R-Okla.).

But Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) told reporters after the HELP committee vote that the full Senate would likely have the 61 votes necessary to override any filibuster that would result from the holds. "I think they'll be there," he said of the necessary votes. "Lets face it, [Crawford] shouldn't be held liable for decisions that haven't been made there, since he hasn't been put in as permanent commissioner." Hatch also said he would be surprised if Republican senators voted against Crawford.

A key issue centers on contentions by Murray and Clinton that the FDA has been dragging its feet on deciding the fate of the emergency contraceptive Plan B (levonorgestrel), for which manufacturer Barr Laboratories is seeking permission to sell over the counter. Barr applied for OTC status for the drug in 2003. At Crawford's March 17 nomination hearing, he told the HELP committee the FDA was within weeks of making a decision on Plan B, but the agency still has not ruled on Barr's request.