Trump’s new ONDCP, SAMHSA, and CDC nominees

An update on President Trump’s agency nominees…

Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP): Trump has nominated Sara Carter, a Fox News contributor, to be ONDCP director.

• Carter’s selection was a surprise, as her background is not in drug policy, public health, or law enforcement, and she has never served in government.
• Her journalism includes a series exposing the brutality of two Mexican drug cartels.
• What’s coming: Carter will need Senate confirmation.
• But: ONDCP’s future is uncertain. Its staff has diminished significantly since Trump took office, and Project 2025 proposes reducing the office’s influence.

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA): Art Kleinschmidt, a former Trump drug policy expert, is expected to rejoin the administration as the deputy assistant secretary of SAMHSA.

• Kleinschmidt served as deputy director of ONDCP and as a senior adviser for health and addiction on the Domestic Policy Council and SAMHSA during the first Trump administration. He contributed to Project 2025.
• What’s coming: The move is not yet finalized, but the role does not require Senate confirmation. Trump has yet to nominate anyone to permanently head the agency as its assistant secretary.
• But: The restructuring of the Department and Health and Human Services (HHS) would shift SAMHSA and several other agencies under the new Administration for a Healthy America (AHA). It is unclear whether SAMHSA would continue to exist as an independent entity under the AHA heading or be dissolved.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): Trump selected CDC’s acting director, Susan Monarez, as the nominee to lead the agency.

• Reminder: The White House withdrew its original CDC nominee, former Rep. Dave Weldon, hours before his confirmation hearing because of concerns that Republican senators would not confirm him, largely due to his questioning of vaccines.
• Monarez is a biosecurity expert with a long record of government service stretching back to the Bush administration, serving in various roles across HHS, the Department of Homeland Security, and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. She has been serving as acting head of CDC since the start of Trump’s term, overseeing major funding cuts.
• What’s coming: Monarez will need to be confirmed by the Senate.

National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA): The Senate voted to confirm Jay Bhattacharya as NIH director and Marty Makary as FDA commissioner. They were sworn in and started their roles this week.

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS): The Senate Finance Committee voted along party lines to support Mehmet Oz’s nomination to lead CMS. The nomination will go to the full Senate for a vote, where he will likely be confirmed.