Despite ridiculous Republican delays and outrageous troll attacks on her weight, Regina Benjamin was confirmed as Surgeon General tonight by a Senate voice vote. What a pleasant surprise!
Some background on Benjamin - recipient of the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship
Regina Benjamin is a rural family physician forging an inspiring model of compassionate and effective medical care in one of the most underserved regions of the United States. In 1990, she founded the Bayou La Batre Rural Health Clinic to serve the Gulf Coast fishing community of Bayou La Batre, Alabama, a village of approximately 2,500 residents devastated twice in the past decade by Hurricanes Georges, in 1998, and Katrina, in 2005.
h/t to Mediagadfly at Left in Alabama
cross posted at Progressive Electorate
About time I say as we are trying to pass health care reform (with a House vote possibly coming next week) as well as finding ourselves in the middle of the H1N1 flu epidemic. A point that fortunately did not go unnoticed by Harry Reid
On the Senate floor on Thursday morning, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid slammed Republicans for slowing down, and in some cases, blocking the confirmation of nominees for various posts in the Obama administration.
Springboarding off the H1N1 swine flu epidemic, Mr. Reid noted that the Senate has yet to confirm Dr. Regina Benjamin as the surgeon general. Republican leaders had blocked her confirmation in a protest over a so-called "gag order" on insurance companies and the information they could relay to Medicare recipients about pending health care legislation. Although the administration relented on the "gag," Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican minority leader and other G.O.P. senators said earlier this week that they still had questions about the issue.
Late last week, President Obama declared a national emergency because of the flu outbreak, Mr. Reid noted, adding: "Unfortunately, though, right now we have no permanent surgeon general in place. And the reason is as simple as it is mind-boggling: Republicans in the Senate refuse to confirm President Obama’s exceptionally qualified nominee for this job."
I cannot reiterate how good a choice I believe this to be by President Obama. Regina Benjamin is someone who has been in the trenches with the impoverished. Dr. Benjamin understands how to close the gaps in the health care disparities. She has worked with a diverse population in the Gulf Coast region which also makes this choice a symbolic gesture of the President's commitment to helping the devastated region. Let's welcome Regina Benjamin and her real world experience. Here's to hitting the ground running.
*update - many have asked how this confirmation could have been blocked - here's a link to an answer by Casual Wednesday - who by the way has been doing an amazing Sunday Series on House and Senate Committees