12-19-2014, 05:59 PM
NRA LOSES POLITICAL BATTLE -- NEW SURGEON GENERAL CONFIRMED
The NRA wasn't able to prevent Vivek Murthy from becoming the new US Surgeon General, despite their significant efforts to keep his nomination from succeeding. He's in.
![[Image: 140318_POL_VivekMurthy.jpg.CROP.promo-mediumlarge.jpg]](http://www.slate.com/content/dam/slate/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2014/03/140318_POL_VivekMurthy.jpg.CROP.promo-mediumlarge.jpg)
It wasn't his youth or relative lack of experience that pitted the NRA against Murthy, it was his staunch positions on gun control.
For example, in 2012 he tweeted, “Tired of politicians playing politics [with] guns, putting lives at risk [because] they’re scared of NRA. Guns are a health care issue.”
In terms of specific advocacy, Murthy pushed not only for Obama’s failed gun-control bill after the Newtown tragedy but additional measures far more restrictive than anything in recent legislation. Murthy supports mandatory training and licensing before an American citizen can purchase a firearm, and also mandatory waiting periods and gun-rationing programs such as limiting how much ammunition a person can buy.
Murthy's supporters said they never gave up on his nomination, pointing to his qualifications as a Harvard and Yale-educated physician backed by more than 100 national organizations, as well as former health care officials under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. The question, according to activists, was not if the NRA was an insurmountable force, but whether enough enthusiasm could be built within the Democratic base to force a confirmation vote.
The lame-duck session offered their only chance, given Democrats could confirm Murthy with a simple majority vote under rules changes enacted by the Senate last year. Once Republicans take control of the upper chamber next year, he would stand no chance, with the GOP opposing not just Murthy's comments on guns, but his advocacy for the Affordable Care Act under a group he co-founded called Doctors for America, formerly known as Doctors for Obama.
Ref: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/19...52162.html
The NRA wasn't able to prevent Vivek Murthy from becoming the new US Surgeon General, despite their significant efforts to keep his nomination from succeeding. He's in.
It wasn't his youth or relative lack of experience that pitted the NRA against Murthy, it was his staunch positions on gun control.
For example, in 2012 he tweeted, “Tired of politicians playing politics [with] guns, putting lives at risk [because] they’re scared of NRA. Guns are a health care issue.”
In terms of specific advocacy, Murthy pushed not only for Obama’s failed gun-control bill after the Newtown tragedy but additional measures far more restrictive than anything in recent legislation. Murthy supports mandatory training and licensing before an American citizen can purchase a firearm, and also mandatory waiting periods and gun-rationing programs such as limiting how much ammunition a person can buy.
Murthy's supporters said they never gave up on his nomination, pointing to his qualifications as a Harvard and Yale-educated physician backed by more than 100 national organizations, as well as former health care officials under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. The question, according to activists, was not if the NRA was an insurmountable force, but whether enough enthusiasm could be built within the Democratic base to force a confirmation vote.
The lame-duck session offered their only chance, given Democrats could confirm Murthy with a simple majority vote under rules changes enacted by the Senate last year. Once Republicans take control of the upper chamber next year, he would stand no chance, with the GOP opposing not just Murthy's comments on guns, but his advocacy for the Affordable Care Act under a group he co-founded called Doctors for America, formerly known as Doctors for Obama.
Ref: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/19...52162.html