President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to head the Department of Health and Human Services came out of a confirmation hearing on Wednesday battered by questions about his financial dealings.
Members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee picked up on critical reporting showing that HHS nominee Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) purchased stock in healthcare companies while simultaneously pushing legislation to benefit those same firms.
Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash), the ranking Democrat on the panel, specifically pressed Price about his investments in a biotech company called Innate Immunotherapeutics, while voting in support of the 21st Century Cures Act–legislation that benefited the firm.
“You made the decision to purchase that stock, not a broker, yes or no?” Murray inquired.
“That was a decision I made, yes,” Price responded.
Murray went on to charge that before making the stock purchases, Price received nonpublic information about the company from fellow-Rep. Chris Collins (R-N.Y.), who sits on the board of Innate Immunotherapeutics and is also a member of the Trump transition team.
She pointed to news reports that said Collins was overheard last week bragging just off the House floor that he “had made people millionaires off a stock tip.”
“That’s not what happened,” Price said, claiming that he merely heard of the company from Collins, but did not receive non-public information. “I studied the company for a period of time and felt that it had some significant merit and promise and purchased the initial shares on the stock exchange itself,” Price added.
That response, however, contradicted claims made by the Trump transition team in a fact sheet defending the nominee’s stock buys. It alleged that Price didn’t personally make any investments, and that instead a “Morgan Stanley financial advisor designed his portfolio and directed all trades in the account.”
Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) later questioned Price about a separate stock purchase—one in a medical device company, Zimmer Bioment. It was reported that Price purchased shares in the firm, and one week later introduced legislation that would have delayed regulations affecting the company.
On Monday, Democratic Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) called on the Office of Congressional Ethics to investigate the stock buys.
Price, however, claimed that he had nothing to do with the purchases, and that his broker made the deals.
“What I don’t understand is,” Franken countered, “once you found out that your broker bought it, you kept the stock.”
The senator also questioned Price’s investments in tobacco companies.
“As a physician, you may know that smoking kills approximately 480,000 Americans each year,” Franken told Price. “And yet, between 1993 and 2012, you were a shareholder of tobacco companies, meaning that you personally benefited from tobacco sales.”
Franken added that at the same time Price voted against legislation in 2009 that would have given the FDA the authority to regulate tobacco. He asked the nominee to explain how these investments and votes square with the Hippocratic Oath that Price and all doctors take–to do no harm.
“It’s a curious observation,” Price responded, pleading ignorance. “I have no idea what stock I held in the 90’s or the 2000’s or even now,” he claimed, adding that he suspects the purchases were done “through mutual funds and pensions plans.”
Franken was unconvinced, saying: “I find it very hard to believe that you did not know you had tobacco stocks.”
Franken went on to note that in just the last four years, Price has purchased more than $300,000 in health-related stocked, while at the same time sponsoring legislation affecting the performance of those companies.
“I find it a little hard to believe that in the questions about your stock profile, you’ve said you didn’t know things,” Franken said.
Republican members of the committee were hardly interested in pursuing a similar line of questioning of the nominee.
Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wy.) described the confirmation hearing as “gotcha management.”
“Nothing is barred and the idea is to get you to take questions on short notice in public that you wouldn’t have done what you normally do,” Enzi claimed.
Another focus of the proceedings was how the Trump administration plans to replace the Affordable Care Act. Price suggested that components of the law are likely to remain in place for some time.
“We believe that it’s absolutely imperative that individuals that have healthcare coverage be able to keep health coverage,” Price testified. “There is a lot of talk about individuals losing their health insurance…That is not our goal, nor is it our desire, nor is it our plan.”
Under questioning from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Price further tied down the President-elect to prior commitments made to not cut entitlement programs–a pledge that puts the incoming administration at odds with Congressional Republicans.
“Is the President-elect, Mr. Trump, going to keep his word to the American people and not cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, or did he lie to the American people?” Sanders asked.
“I have no reason to believe that he’s changed his position,” Price stated.
