U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey voted against Dr. Rachel Levine’s nomination to a key post in President Joe Biden’s administration.
Biden tapped Levine, Pennsylvania’s former health secretary, to serve as the U.S. assistant health secretary. Voting mostly along party lines Wednesday, the U.S. Senate confirmed Levine as assistant health secretary.
But Toomey, R-Pa., said Wednesday he couldn’t support Levine’s confirmation. He cited the high number of deaths in Pennsylvania nursing homes to the coronavirus.
“In Pennsylvania, the pandemic struck seniors in nursing homes disproportionately hard compared to other states. This was due in part to poor decisions and oversight by Dr. Levine and the Wolf administration,” Toomey said in a statement.
“Moreover, the commonwealth’s extended economic lockdown that Dr. Levine advocated for was excessive, arbitrary in nature, and has led to a slower recovery,” Toomey said. “While I appreciate Dr. Levine’s service and responsiveness to my office over the past year, she has not earned a promotion to help lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and I cannot support her confirmation.”
Levine led the Pennsylvania Health Department for years before leaving to take the post in the Biden administration. She gained a wide profile as Gov. Tom Wolf relied heavily on Levine in fighting the coronavirus pandemic.
Nearly 25,000 deaths in Pennsylvania have been tied to COVID-19 and more than half of those deaths have occurred in long-term care facilities, including nursing homes, according to the health department.
Republican lawmakers have criticized Levine and Wolf’s administration for allowing some nursing home residents hospitalized due to COVID-19 to return to their own facilities to recover. Critics have said the Wolf administration’s guidance led to spikes of coronavirus cases in long-term care facilities.
Nursing home trade groups in Pennsylvania have said they are not aware of the state’s guidance leading to any deaths or outbreaks and they aren’t aware of any facility that was forced to accept a COVID-positive patient against its wishes.
U.S. Sen. Bob Casey Jr., D-Pa., voted to confirm Levine.
Levine becomes the first openly transgender federal official to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
In recent months, Levine earned some criticism for the state’s rate of COVID-19 testing lagging behind other states. But she won praise for taking steps to stem the spread of the coronavirus and for her calm, measured manner in talking to the public about the pandemic.
Some lawmakers, including Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, have questioned Levine about gaps in data about cases in nursing homes, Spotlight PA reported.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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