Senate Panel Advances Trump-Aligned Nominee for HHS Inspector General Amid Questions About Independence

The Senate Finance Committee voted 14-13 to advance the nomination of Thomas March Bell to be inspector general at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), sending his nomination to the full Republican-controlled Senate where he is widely expected to be confirmed.

Bell, an attorney and longtime Republican staffer, would oversee investigations into fraud, waste and abuse in Medicare and Medicaid and would have authority to examine hospitals, insurers and other health-care entities and to recommend enforcement actions.

Concerns About Partisanship and Independence

Critics have raised concerns about Bell's outspoken alignment with former President Donald Trump and his decades of work for Republican lawmakers, arguing those ties could compromise the inspector general's traditional role as an independent watchdog. Dozens of Democratic lawmakers and advocacy groups have urged senators to reject the nomination.

In prepared testimony, Bell acknowledged the office is meant to operate independently but said he intends to "provide actionable information in support of the President's and Secretary's courageous and innovative change of direction for the improved health of all Americans."

Record and Controversies

Bell currently serves as senior counsel for investigations on the House Administration Committee. He previously served as chief of staff in the HHS Office for Civil Rights during the first Trump administration and has spent much of his career working for Republican congressional offices.

His record includes a 1997 dismissal from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality after a state audit found he had improperly authorized a payment of nearly $8,000 to the agency's former spokesman. In 2016, he played a leading role in a House Republican inquiry into Planned Parenthood's use of fetal tissue for research — a high-profile investigation that drew intense political debate.

Opposition and Support

On Wednesday, 60 abortion-rights and advocacy groups sent a letter urging senators to oppose Bell's nomination, alleging a history of "unethical conduct, extreme partisanship, and abuse of power" that they say has harmed taxpayers and threatened reproductive health providers.

Bell has said he is committed to the rule of law and pledged that, if confirmed, his office would conduct "examinations, evaluations, inspections, investigations and audits to make sure that the programs that Congress passes are running as efficiently as possible without waste, fraud and abuse." He also indicated willingness to investigate abortion providers if warranted, calling such work "exactly the kind of thing that an inspector general must have the courage to do — follow the law and follow the facts even if it’s unpopular."

Senators will now consider Bell's nomination in the full Senate. Supporters say his experience in investigations equips him to enforce program integrity; opponents argue his partisan history risks politicizing an office designed to operate independently.