March 03, 2025

Ahead of Confirmation Hearing, Warren Presses FDA, NIH Nominees to Address Conflicts of Interest with Private Health Care, Medical Research Companies

“The rampant revolving door of former government leaders lobbying the agencies they once led, while their government relationships remain fresh, erodes Americans’ faith in the federal government.”

Text of Letter to Dr. Makary (PDF) | Text of Letter to Dr. Bhattacharya (PDF)

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) wrote to Marty Makary and Jay Bhattacharya, nominees to lead the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), respectively, asking them to address their conflicts of interest ahead of their confirmation hearings.

Dr. Makary currently serves as Chief Medical Officer at Sesame Care, a direct-to-consumer health care company that connects patients with providers who virtually prescribe Sesame’s medicine. He also serves on the board of Harrow, an ophthalmic company that relies on the FDA to approve its therapeutics. While Dr. Makary said he would resign from the board before taking office, his relationship with the company raises concerns about his ability to be impartial at the FDA.

Dr. Bhattacharya most recently worked as a research associate at Acumen, LLC, which offers analytical research services to the federal government, and has contracts with multiple agencies across the Department of Health and Human Services – including NIH.

Senator Warren asked both nominees to recuse themselves from all matters involving their former clients and employers for at least four years, a commitment their predecessors under the Biden administration made.

Senator Warren also asked them to agree to not work for any companies they regulate or interact with during their tenure, for four years after leaving office. During his confirmation process, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who oversees both of the nominees’ agencies, committed not to work for a pharmaceutical company for at least four years after leaving office.

Lastly, Senator Warren asked the nominees to refrain from lobbying their respective agencies for four years after leaving office.

To mitigate concerns about former government leaders lobbying the agencies they once led, multiple Biden appointees agreed to a post-employment lobbying ban, following pressure from Senator Warren.

“By making these commitments, you would increase Americans’ trust in your ability to serve the public interest, rather than the special interests of [former contractors or companies they regulated],” concluded Senator Warren.

Senator Warren gave the nominees until March 10, 2025 to demonstrate their commitment to public health and address their conflicts of interest.

Senator Warren has been a leader on enforcing government ethics standards and pressing nominees to address conflicts of interest:

In February 2025, Senator Elizabeth Warren wrote to Mr. Stephen Feinberg, nominee for Deputy Secretary of the Department of Defense (DoD), pressing him to explain his “serious conflicts of interest” and his track record of mismanagement.
In February 2025, following reports that Elon Musk would take advantage of loopholes in federal ethics laws to avoid publicly disclosing his financial conflicts of interest, Senator Elizabeth Warren led several Democrats in a letter demanding Musk publicly reveal how he could stand to profit from his role in the Trump administration.
In February 2025, Senator Elizabeth Warren and Tim Kaine (D-Va.) called on Mr. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to recuse himself from former clients’ and employers’ particular matters and commit to not lobbying HHS after his tenure as Secretary.
In February 2025, following the Senate Finance Committee vote to advance the nomination of Mr. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for Secretary of Health and Human Services, Senator Elizabeth Warren gave remarks regarding the nominee’s continued conflicts of interest.
In February 2025, Senators Warren and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Ranking Member on the Senate Finance Committee, wrote to Mr. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., pressing him to urgently resolve his serious conflicts of interest before the committee vote Wednesday morning.
In January 2025, following pressure from Senate Democrats, Mr. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. agreed to amend his flawed ethics agreement (see Warren QFRs at the end of Part 2 and start of Part 3).
In January 2025, at a hearing of the Senate Finance Committee, Senator Elizabeth Warren questioned Mr. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services, about his dangerous conflicts of interest and record of profiting from anti-vaccine conspiracies.
In January 2025, ahead of Mr. Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s confirmation hearing for Secretary of Health and Human Services, Senator Elizabeth Warren sent a 34-page letter detailing her concerns with his nomination and asked him to answer 175 questions ahead of his hearing before the Finance Committee.
In January 2025, Senator Elizabeth Warren wrote to Mr. Pete Hegseth, then-nominee for Secretary of the Department of Defense, regarding his ethics conflicts ahead of the Senate’s consideration of his nomination. Particularly concerning were the facts that Mr. Hegseth’s household owns stock in several defense contractors and that he was unwilling to commit to the same post-employment restrictions he previously advocated for.
In January 2025, Senator Elizabeth Warren wrote to Trump Transition Co-Chairs Howard Lutnick and Linda McMahon, urging them to make the White House’s ethics pledge for incoming appointees as strong as possible and outlining specific provisions to do so. The letter came at the end of the first week of confirmation hearings for President-elect Trump’s cabinet nominees, many of whom have been found to have serious conflicts of interest and massive wealth.
In December 2024, Senator Elizabeth Warren sent a letter to President-elect Trump with concerns about Elon Musk’s conflicts of interest as he served as a top advisor for the incoming president.
In December 2024, Senators Elizabeth Warren, Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), and Representative Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) wrote to Dr. Mehmet Oz, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, raising stark concerns about his advocacy to eliminate traditional Medicare and his deep financial ties to the private health insurers that would benefit from that move.
In November 2024, in response to the news that President-elect Donald Trump selected Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to serve as Secretary of Health and Human Services, Senator Elizabeth Warren released a statement calling him a “danger to public health, scientific research, medicine, and health care coverage for millions of Americans.”
In March 2024, Senator Elizabeth Warren secured ethics commitments from Douglas Schmidt, ahead of his confirmation to be the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E) for the Department of Defense.
In February 2024, Senator Elizabeth Warren secured unprecedented ethics commitments from former Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney, President Biden's nominee for U.S. Ambassador to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), including his recusal from participating in the OECD’s decision making processes regarding crypto and digital assets policy.
In January 2024, Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representative Jayapal sent a letter to Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, expressing concerns about the Department of Commerce’s reliance on a small team of Wall Street financiers to help allocate $39 billion in CHIPS and Science Act taxpayer-funded manufacturing and R&D subsidies.
In June 2023, Senator Elizabeth Warren and representative Andy Kim reintroduced her Department of Defense Ethics and Anti-Corruption Act.
In April 2023, Senator Elizabeth Warren chaired a hearing with Pentagon officials and ethics experts about problems with the revolving door, retired military officers working for foreign governments, and issues with executive branch officials owning stocks in companies impacted by their official actions.
In May 2022, Senator Elizabeth Warren secured a commitment from then-Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision nominee Michael Barr not to seek employment or compensation – including as a result of board service – from any company that has a party matter before the Fed, or any financial services company, for four years after he leaves government service.
In February 2022, Senator Elizabeth Warren secured the strongest ethics standards ever agreed to by Federal Reserve Board nominees from Lisa Cook, Phillip Jefferson, and Sarah Bloom Raskin. The nominees agreed to a four-year recusal period from matters which they oversee on the Board of Governors, not to seek a waiver from these recusals, and not to seek employment or compensation from financial services companies for four years after leaving government service.
In January 2022, Senator Elizabeth Warren secured a commitment from then-FDA Commissioner nominee Dr. Robert Califf to recuse himself from matters involving his former employers and clients for four years, two years longer than what was required in the Biden administration’s Ethics Pledge. He also agreed not to seek employment with or compensation, including as a result of board service, from any pharmaceutical or medical device company that he interacts with during his tenure as FDA Commissioner for four years after completing his government service.
In July 2021, Senator Elizabeth Warren secured agreements to four-year recusals from former clients’ and employers’ party matters from then-Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall and then-USD(R&E) Heidi Shyu.
In January 2021, Senator Elizabeth Warren secured a commitment from General Lloyd Austin III, then-nominee for Secretary of Defense, to extend his recusal from Raytheon Technologies for four years and to not seek a position on the board of a defense contractor or become a lobbyist after his government service.
In December 2020, Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representative Jayapal introduced the Anti-Corruption and Public Integrity Act, the most ambitious anti-corruption legislation since Watergate, which would outlaw corrupt revolving-door schemes so that public servants are serving the public – not the financial interests of themselves or giant corporations.
In March 2020, President Trump signed the bipartisan Presidential Transition Enhancement Act into law, which included major provisions of Sen. Warren’s (D-Mass.) Transition Team Ethics Improvement Act.
In September 2019, the Senate passed a key provision of the Transition Team Ethics Improvement Act introduced by Senators Warren and Tom Carper (D-Del.) to enhance the ethics requirements that govern presidential transitions.
In November 2016, as President Trump prepared to take office, Senator Elizabeth Warren and Chairman Cummings requested a GAO investigation of the chaotic Trump transition. In September 2017, Government Accountability Office (GAO) released the results of the investigation, finding that the Trump transition team ignored advice from the Office of Government Ethics and failed to follow past precedents regarding ethics and presidential transitions.

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