Senate confirms Dr. Erica Schwartz as CDC director in 51-44 vote, The Hill reports

The U.S. Senate voted to confirm Dr. Erica Schwartz as the next director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, The Hill reported on Wednesday. The confirmation would give CDC a Senate-confirmed leadership role for the first time in nearly a year, after the position had been filled through acting leadership during the confirmation gap, according to the report.

Under the reported tally, the confirmation passed on a mostly party-line 51-44 vote. The Hill said Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia was the only Democrat to vote in favor of Schwartz.

The Hill’s account also indicated that the confirmation vote drew support from Republicans and did not bring broad cross-party alignment, with most Democrats voting against confirming Schwartz. No official congressional roll-call text was provided in the supplied material to verify the specific clerk tally beyond the report’s numbers.

If confirmed, Schwartz would take over as CDC director, a role responsible for overseeing the agency’s public health programs and coordinating major federal disease control initiatives. The practical change from acting leadership to a Senate-confirmed director can affect continuity of senior management decisions and the formal authority structure for agency operations.

The confirmation comes amid ongoing public health and preparedness priorities for the CDC, including outbreak response and nationwide disease surveillance and guidance. A director installed through the Senate confirmation process typically has the strongest standing to set administration priorities within statutory and interagency constraints.

With the vote reported by The Hill, the next step for implementation would be completion of any procedural handoffs associated with a new Senate-confirmed CDC director, including the start of her tenure and staffing transitions in the CDC leadership chain.

The record provided does not include a roll-call entry or an official Senate document confirming the vote count, so the confirmation result should be treated as reported by The Hill until primary congressional records are reviewed.