Senate approves Obama surgeon general nominee

The U.S. Senate confirmed the long-delayed nomination of Dr. Vivek Murthy for surgeon general on Monday, as Democrats pushed to approve some of President Barack Obama's stalled choices for government posts before Republicans take power in Congress next year.

Obama's pick for the top U.S. public health job was approved 51-43. Earlier, Murthy barely cleared a procedural hurdle after he drew opposition over his support for stricter gun regulations. He has called gun violence a public health concern.

The president nominated Murthy a year ago, but some Republicans and the National Rifle Association criticized his gun-control views. Senator Ted Cruz, a conservative Republican, called Murthy an “anti-gun activist.”

Obama applauded the Senate and said in a statement that Murthy would “help us build on the progress we've made combating Ebola, both in our country and at its source.”

Murthy, 37, a Yale Medical School graduate who is a physician at Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital and instructor at Harvard Medical School, also advocated the Affordable Care Act, Obama's signature health initiative, which is anathema to most Republicans.

Murthy's confirmation represented a rare defeat for the National Rifle Association (PDF), the influential gun owners lobbying group, which told senators that a vote for Murthy would be scored against them when they rate lawmakers' votes during election campaigns.

Republican Sen. John Barrasso said most of Murthy's career has been spent as an activist focused on gun control and other political issues, rather than on treating patients. "Americans don't want a surgeon general who might use this position of trust to promote his own personal campaign against the Second Amendment of the Constitution," Barrasso said.

Murthy expressed support for gun control in a letter to Congress after the Newtown, Connecticut, Sandy Hook school shooting.

Supporters of Murthy noted more than 100 public health organizations endorsed him, calling him a “well qualified, forward-thinking, innovative leader with a strong commitment to public health.”

“Does that sound like a political hack when 100 organizations say that about this doctor?” said Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the Senate's No. 2 Democrat.

The Senate will vote on Tuesday on another contentious nominee, Sarah Saldana. Her nomination to head the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office became bogged down after she said the president's executive action on immigration was legal.

The Senate scheduled votes on Murthy, Saldana and three other nominees for Monday and Tuesday as part of Majority Leader Harry Reid's push to get nominations through the Senate before it goes home for the year.

Reid hopes to move about 20 more nominees later this week in a process he started over the weekend, when delaying tactics by conservative Republicans on a government spending bill kept the Senate in session unexpectedly and gave him an opening.

Last year, Democrats infuriated Republicans by changing Senate rules so government nominations can advance to confirmation votes by a simple majority of the 100-member Senate, rather than a 60-vote supermajority.

News wires