U.S. Senate confirms Levine as assistant secretary of health
Voting mostly along party lines, the U.S. Senate on Wednesday confirmed former Pennsylvania Health Secretary Rachel Levine to be the nation's assistant secretary of health. She is the first openly transgender federal official to win Senate confirmation.
The final vote was 52-48. Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine joined all Democrats in supporting Levine.
Levine had been serving as Pennsylvania's top health official since 2017, and emerged as the public face of the state's response to the coronavirus pandemic. She is expected to oversee Health and Human Services offices and programs across the U.S.
Transgender-rights activists have hailed Levine's appointment as a historic breakthrough. Few trans people have ever held high-level offices at the federal or state level.
A pediatrician and former Pennsylvania physician general, Levine was appointed as Pennsylvania's health secretary by Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf in 2017. She won confirmation by the Republican-majority Pennsylvania Senate.
A graduate of Harvard and of Tulane Medical School, Levine is president of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials. She's written in the past on the opioid crisis, medical marijuana, adolescent medicine, eating disorders and LGBTQ medicine.
However, Sen. Pat Toomey, a Pennsylvania Republican, voted against Levine's confirmation Wednesday.
"In Pennsylvania, the pandemic struck seniors in nursing homes disproportionately hard compared to other states," Toomey said. "This was due in part to poor decisions and oversight by Dr. Levine and the Wolf administration."
He also said an extended lockdown advocated by Levine "was excessive, arbitrary in nature, and has led to a slower recovery."
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