(Reuters) -The U.S. Senate on Tuesday confirmed President Donald Trump’s nominees Martin Makary and Jay Bhattacharya as heads of the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health, respectively.
The Republican-controlled Senate voted 56-44 to confirm Martin Makary as the commissioner of the FDA, which is currently embroiled in a controversy over the mass firing of federal employees.
The Senate voted 53-47 to confirm Jay Bhattacharya as director of the NIH, the nation’s premier medical research agency, overseeing a nearly $50 billion budget and funding for thousands of scientific projects.
Bhattacharya is set to face immediate challenges, including legal battles over Trump’s proposed cuts to federal research funding. A U.S. judge blocked the cuts earlier this month.
In the new roles, Makary and Bhattacharya will report to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr who oversees the agencies.