Protecting the Surgeon General from political interference is the goal of Senator Edward Kennedy's (D-MA) latest bill. The Surgeon General Integrity Restoration Act requires the President to select future nominees from a list provided by the Institute of Medicine.
The act would grant the SG the independence he or she needs to effectively educate the American people on matters of importance to public health and medical science -- a need which became apparent after former SG Richard Carmona testified about the political interference he experienced during his four-year tenure under the Bush administration.
Aside from two apparent minor flaws, the Act looks to do just that.
Former SGs have received flack from their politically-appointed supervisors when they've attempted to release reports that differed from their administration's political stance.
Under Kennedy's bill, SGs would be able to release reports over politically-motivated objections -- national security notwithstanding. An even cooler provision of the bill states that the SG "shall identify and separately label any proposed modifications to such a work product that the Surgeon General does not consent to accept," which will allow the public to follow any attempts at manipulation.
As nice as that is, the proposed legislation unfortunately doesn't require the interfering parties to be identified so they can be dealt with properly. It also allows the President* to reject all suggested nominees, but provides no guidance on how the SG should be chosen then. Without this guidance, the nomination process may devolve into its current state.
* Technically, the Secretary of Health and Human Services suggests nominees from the provided list to the President, but the President has the final say. If all nominees are rejected, the Secretary of Health and Human Services has the pleasure of writing explanations "as to why each such nominee was unsatisfactory."
Kennedy Introduces Legislation to Ensure Integrity in the Office of the Surgeon General [press release]
