{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.alsobrooks.senate.gov/news/press-releases/alsobrooks-no-on-fda-commissioner/", "ALSOBROOKS \u2018NO\u2019 ON FDA COMMISSIONER", "2026-09-24", "2026", "2026-09", "Democrat", "Senate", "MD", "Angela D. Alsobrooks", "A000382", "www.alsobrooks.senate.gov", "alsobrooks", "https://www.alsobrooks.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/", "scraper", "September 24, 2026\n\nWASHINGTON, DC \u2013 Today, Senator Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.) questioned Dr. Heidi Overton, President Trump\u2019s nominee to be Commissioner of Food and Drugs for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).\n\nSenator Alsobrooks questioned Dr. Heidi Overton about whether she believes that birth control contaminates our drinking water, and her awareness regarding how much money the tobacco industry has contributed to President Trump, in relation to the Administration\u2019s rollback of e-cigarette regulations. Dr. Overton did not answer the questions.\n\nDr. Overton will be regulating both pharmaceutical products and tobacco products if she is confirmed to lead the FDA.\n\nOn birth control:\n\nSenator Alsobrooks: Do you have any reason to believe that birth control contaminates our drinking water in our country?\n\nDr. Overton: My job will be to work within the FDA statutory requirements for individual product review for safety and efficacy determination. What the EPA, to your question, the EPA is outside of the jurisdiction of the FDA. I think it\u2019s important for all agencies to answer questions that American people might have.\n\nSenator Alsobrooks: Do you have any reason to believe that taking birth control, that women are contaminating our drinking water in our country by taking birth control?\n\nDr. Overton: Thank you for the question. If confirmed as FDA commissioner, I will work within what the FDA is required to do for individual product review for the safety and efficacy of those applications, post-market review and of those individual products.\n\nOn Big Tobacco spending:\n\nSenator Alsobrooks: I want to know whether or not you know how much money Big Tobacco has contributed to the President\u2019s super PAC, inauguration, or to his ballroom?\n\nDr. Overton: Those are not things that I\u2019m familiar with.\n\nSenator Alsobrooks: I know you\u2019ve been a senior advisor to him, but the answer is $20 million.\n\nAnd do you know how much the President owns in tobacco stocks? I think these are questions the American people deserve to know. The answer is $1.64 million the President holds in Philip Morris and holds Altria investments.\n\nWould you say that the President then has a vested personal financial interest in the success of the tobacco industry? Is that a fair statement?\n\nDr. Overton: I reject the framing of that. The President\u2019s interest is in the best outcomes for the American people. He is here to serve in that capacity.\n\nSenator Alsobrooks: But you acknowledge that he is an investor in Big Tobacco. He has earned $1.64 million.\n\n###", 1, "2026-09-25T10:04:52Z", "2026-09-25T10:05:46Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.alsobrooks.senate.gov/news/press-releases/alsobrooks-no-on-fda-commissioner/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7939208298921585, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}