The Senate has confirmed Dr. Regina Benjamin as Surgeon General of the United States. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) had blasted Senate rebublicans for stalling her confirmation. As reported in the New York Times,
Republicans had stalled her confirmation over another issue, the so-called gag order imposed on insurance companies about whether they could inform Medicare beneficiaries about possible cuts to their benefits in the health care bills being negotiated in the House and Senate. The administration has since retreated on that issue.
Dr. Benjamin is well known as the founder of the Bayou La Batre Rural Health Clinic in Bayou La Batre, Ala., and for keeping that clinic running during two hurricanes.
Read the full story here. For a video of President Obama announcing his nomination of Dr. Benjamin for Surgeon General, click here. For a brief biography of Dr. Benjamin click here or here.
