President-elect Donald Trump has announced nearly two-dozen key appointments to the incoming administration, including for roles that will have direct and indirect oversight of public policies facing senior living communities, residents, and caregivers.
The nominees are due to face confirmation hearings in Congress in the New Year; however, the president-elect has suggested bypassing the advice and consent role of Congress for his political nominees through the use of recess appointments. This would require the Senate to vote for a recess, instead of their more typical “pro forma” legislative sessions as they have largely done since 2014 when the Supreme Court ruled that the Senate must be out of session for 10 days for a president to make recess appointments.
The president does have limited powers to force a Congressional recess that could allow for recess appointments without the Senate's approval; those appointments would last through the remainder of the Congressional session (December 2026). The incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) indicated he would be open to recess appointments for more controversial nominees.
Key nominees include:
Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS): Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. The son of former U.S. Attorney General and New York Senator Robert F. Kennedy, his background includes serving as a senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) for three decades, as president of the environmental organization Waterkeeper Alliance, chairman and founder of Children’s Health Defense Fund, and also co-directed the Environmental Litigation Clinic at Pace University. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University, law degree from the University of Virginia Law School, and a Master’s in Environmental Law from Pace University.
Kennedy has not provided substantial details on his views of the long-term care sector. His public health priorities have previously included reducing federal regulation, and promoting alternative medicine and preventive health. If confirmed, Kennedy would be responsible for managing more than $1.7 trillion in federal spending, overseeing the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the FDA, CDC, and NIH. Kennedy has expressed skepticism about several of these agencies, particularly related to vaccines, pharmaceuticals, and industrial food systems.
Trump underscored that his choice in Kennedy was to combat the "industrial food complex and drug companies who have engaged in deception, misinformation, and disinformation when it comes to Public Health," adding that "HHS will play a big role in helping ensure that everybody will be protected from harmful chemicals, pollutants, pesticides, pharmaceutical products, and food additives that have contributed to the overwhelming Health Crisis in this Country." Trump reasoned that Kennedy would restore federal health agencies "to the traditions of Gold Standard Scientific Research, and beacons of Transparency, to end the Chronic Disease epidemic, and to Make America Great and Healthy Again!"
Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS): Mehmet Oz. A cardiothoracic surgeon who is popularly known as "Dr. Oz" from his television show that ran from 2009-2022, Oz would be the first physician CMS administration since Mark McClellan, who left CMS in 2006. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and a joint MD and MBA from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and Wharton Business School. He began his medical career with a residency at Columbia University in 1986.
Oz earned national media attention in 2003 as a guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show, which he then translated into the "The Dr. Oz Show" in 2009. He served on the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition during the first Trump administration and founded the nonprofit HealthCorps to provide health education to school children. He was defeated for the U.S. Senate in 2022 by John Fetterman (D-PA).
As CMS Administrator, Oz would be responsible for overseeing Medicare and Medicaid. He has been a strong proponent of expanding use of Medicare Advantage, and has promoted the idea of “Medicare Advantage for All” to eliminate employer-based insurance in favor of universal coverage through Medicare Advantage plans.
In his announcement, Trump said that, "Dr. Oz will be a leader in incentivizing Disease Prevention, so we get the best results in the World for every dollar we spend on Healthcare in our Great Country,” and claimed that Oz “will also cut waste and fraud within our Country’s most expensive Government Agency.”
Secretary of the Department of Labor: Lori Chavez-DeRemer. Currently serving her first time in Congress but defeated for re-election in November. She previously served as mayor of Happy Valley, Oregon (population 28,409) and on the Happy Valley city council in suburban Portland.
Chavez-DeRemer has been one of the most vocal Republican members of Congress in support of unions, as one of only three House Republicans to co-sponsor the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, a longstanding wish-list of pro-labor policies, including provisions that would effectively repeal right-to-work provisions in place in more than half of the states; Argentum opposes the PRO Act with our partners in the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace (CDW).
In anticipation of Chavez-DeRemer's nomination, CDW released a statement expressing alarm, noting that her "support of the PRO Act raises legitimate concerns about her possible nomination. We hope President-Elect Trump gives careful consideration to her past support of this anti-worker, anti-business legislation as he evaluates her candidacy." In addition to the PRO Act, she has also supported the Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act, legislation to protect the right of public employees to join unions by establishing a minimum standard of collective bargaining rights that states and localities must provide.
Her nomination has received praise from several union groups, including Teamsters president Sean O’Brien, two of the largest unions the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers, which said Chavez-DeRemer’s record “suggests real support of workers and their right to unionize.” AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler also praised Chavez-DeRemer’s “pro-labor record in Congress.” She also secured endorsements from UFCW, Ironworkers Local 29 and IBEW in her Congressional campaigns. Chavez-DeRemer’s father was a Teamsters union member.
U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA), who will chair the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee in the new Congress, expressed concern about her nomination, noting "I will need to get a better understanding of her support for Democrat legislation in Congress that would strip Louisiana’s ability to be a right to work state, and if that will be her position going forward." National Right to Work Committee said that Chavez-DeRemer “should have no place in the Trump administration.”
Secretary of the Treasury: Scott Bessent. A hedge fund founder (Key Square Capital Management) who spent most of his career at Soros Capital Management, including as chief investment officer from 2011 to 2015. His career has largely focused on financial markets, hedge fund management, and investment strategies, particularly in global equities, fixed income, and macroeconomic trends. He has backed extending provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, and said he views tariffs as a “one time price adjustment” and “not inflationary,” which he expects would be directed primarily at China.
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development: Scott Turner. A former professional football player (1995-2003), Texas state representative (2013-2017), businessman, and motivational speaker, Turner previously served as executive director of the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council during Trump's first administration, the program designed to stimulate long-term investments by offering tax incentives, such as tax breaks on capital gains for investors. The focus was primarily on spurring economic growth through job creation, housing development, and business investments in these zones.
Secretary of Veterans Affairs: Doug Collins. Former U.S. Representative from Georgia (2013-2021), attorney, Air Force Reserve chaplain, and Trump legal counsel. Collins previously served in the Georgia House of Representatives from 2007 to 2012 and worked as a pastor, lawyer in private practice, and businessman. A colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserve, Collins has served as a chaplain since 2002. Collins earned a bachelor’s degree from North Georgia College, an M.Div. from New Orleans
Theological Seminary, and a J.D. from John Marshall Law School.
Director of the Centers for Disease Control: Dave Weldon. A physician, former U.S. Representative from Florida (1995-2009), and unsuccessful candidate for the 2012 U.S. Senate race in Florida. During his time in Congress, Weldon raised concerns about the safety of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccines, as well as the safety of Gardasil, the vaccine that protects against the papillomavirus virus.
Commissioner of Food and Drugs (FDA Administrator): Marty Makary. An oncology and gastrointestinal laparoscopic surgeon and professor of surgery and public health at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Makary is an advocate for disruptive innovation in medicine and physician-led initiatives. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Makary was an early advocate for universal masking to control the pandemic and recommended vaccines for adults. He was also an outspoken opponent of broad COVID-19 vaccine mandates and, in late 2021 and early 2022, non-pharmaceutical interventions meant to reduce transmission in schools and universities.