By ALI SWENSON

NEW YORK (AP) — A U.S. Senate committee on Wednesday voted to advance a candidate openly supportive of President Donald Trump to be inspector general for the Department of Health and Human Services, a role that is traditionally viewed as nonpartisan.

Related Articles

Appeals court pauses order restricting use of force by immigration agents in Chicago-area crackdown

Trump urges Treasury Secretary Bessent to take Federal Reserve job

Judge to proceed with contempt probe after US flew migrants to El Salvador prison in March

Veteran FBI employee sues bureau after being fired over displaying a pride flag

Trump administration revives rollbacks of species protections from first term

The 14-13 vote in the Republican-led Senate Finance Committee sends Thomas March Bell’s nomination to the full, Republican-controlled Senate, where he is expected to be confirmed to lead the office charged with investigating fraud, waste and abuse in the federal Medicare and Medicaid programs.

The Republican candidate’s outspoken alignment with Trump and his history of working for GOP lawmakers for decades have raised questions about his independence for a role that’s intended to scrutinize and root out fraud in some of the nation’s biggest spending programs. A number of Democratic lawmakers have criticized Bell’s nomination.

His nomination also follows a pattern of Trump prioritizing loyalty in his hires across his administration, even in roles that have long been considered independent. Earlier this year, Trump ousted watchdogs across the government, including the HHS inspector general, prompting a smattering of lawsuits over whether he did so legally.

Bell, an attorney who currently serves as senior counsel for investigations on the Republican-led House Administration Committee, has said he will support the initiatives of Trump and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. if confirmed as inspector general.

In prepared testimony for his confirmation hearing, he acknowledged that the role is independent but added that 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.”

He said in response to questions that he is committed to the rule of law and “will do 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.”

As HHS inspector general, Bell would also be tasked with investigating hospitals and insurers and ensuring they follow regulations. The office has the power to enforce stiff penalties.

Bell has long worked for Republican politicians and congressional offices and served as chief of staff in the HHS Office of Civil Rights during Trump’s first term.

In 1997, he was fired from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality after a state audit showed he improperly authorized a nearly $8,000 payment to the agency’s former spokesman, according to reports from the time.

In 2016, Bell helped lead an investigation by House Republicans into Planned Parenthood’s use of fetal tissue for medical research.

On Wednesday, 60 abortion rights groups and other advocacy organizations sent a letter asking senators to reject the nomination, alleging Bell has a history of “unethical conduct, extreme partisanship, and abuse of power that has harmed taxpayers, spread misinformation, and put reproductive health care providers at risk.”

During his confirmation hearing, Bell expressed openness to further investigating abortion clinics as HHS inspector general. He said such investigations are “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.”

The St. Paul City Council voted 6-1 on Wednesday to ban cryptocurrency kiosks citywide, setting up a possible legal confrontation with machine operators who recently sued the city of Stillwater over a similar ban.

At least 32 of the ATM-like machines have proliferated in convenience stores and small shops across St. Paul, drawing scrutiny from police and others. The machines — which allow users to make cash contributions to cryptocurrency accounts and have dollars converted to Bitcoin — have been linked to 51 scam reports statewide, amounting to $700,000 in losses in Minnesota alone.

Council members Saura Jost and Cheniqua Johnson on Wednesday acknowledged they had little prior knowledge of the machines or the scams until Council President Rebecca Noecker invited law enforcement officials from suburban cities to make a presentation in May.

“The predatory nature of it … was something that was hard to ignore,” said Johnson, who was impressed by Forest Lake and Stillwater’s own findings around cryptocurrency scams, which often target elderly victims. Noecker noted the machines impose heavy mark-ups, inspiring seasoned cryptocurrency users to perform their deposits and other transactions online.

Related Articles

St. Paul City Council simplifies standards in mixed-use zoning areas

Shari Moore to retire after nearly 40 years at St. Paul City Hall

St. Paul: Hamm’s Brewery site designated ‘local heritage preservation district’

Bye Bye Bitcoin? St. Paul City Council discusses banning crypto ATMs

St. Paul offering $2,500 for those facing eviction. Here’s how it works.

Stillwater banned the kiosks in April, drawing a lawsuit from Bitcoin Depot. In St. Paul, a representative of Bitcoin Depot delivered remarks at a public hearing last week but made no mention of possible legal action against the city.

Council Member Anika Bowie cast the sole dissenting vote against the ordinance, noting a citywide ban does nothing to prevent scammers from simply directing victims to a kiosk over the city’s borders.

“I honestly think this penalizes businesses … and just kind of relocates the issue,” Bowie said. “I do think it’s important that we raise awareness, and that was really good in terms of what came out of this.”

Jaden McDaniels’ iron-man streak came to an end Wednesday. The 25 year old missed Minnesota’s home bout with Washington with a left-wrist injury.

That was the first game the wing sat out since Dec. 8, 2023 — nearly two calendar years. The absence snapped a streak of 157-straight regular season games played, the fifth-longest active mark in the NBA.

McDaniels had also played 31 playoff games in that span, pushing his personal total to 188.

Related Articles

Is Timberwolves guard Jaylen Clark a … defensive superstar?

Five takeaways from the Wolves win over Dallas

Timberwolves fall to Denver, now 0-5 against teams with winning records

Donte DiVincenzo’s 3-ball falls as Timberwolves improve to 2-0 in NBA Cup play

Timberwolves down Jazz in Utah: Takeaways from Minnesota’s third straight win

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER and JOSH BOAK

WASHINGTON (AP) — For the second time in two days, President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he would like to appoint Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to chair the Federal Reserve.

Related Articles

Judge to proceed with contempt probe after US flew migrants to El Salvador prison in March

Veteran FBI employee sues bureau after being fired over displaying a pride flag

Trump administration revives rollbacks of species protections from first term

What’s next once Trump signs bill releasing the Epstein files

Labor Department won’t release full October jobs report, a casualty of the 43-day federal shutdown

Yet Bessent keeps saying he doesn’t want the job, Trump added, in comments to the U.S.-Saudi Investment Forum.

“We’re thinking about him for the Fed, but he wants no part of it, he likes being secretary of the Treasury,” Trump said. “I think we’ll leave him — so let’s cross your name off right, officially, right?”

Trump has been sharply critical of the current Fed chair, Jerome Powell, whose term ends in May, for not cutting interest rates quickly enough. Trump’s pick as a replacement will almost certainly push for rapid interest rate cuts and likely institute wide-ranging changes in how the Fed operates. Bessent earlier this year published extensive criticisms of the Fed’s groundbreaking efforts to shore up financial markets and the economy after the 2008-2009 Great Recession and during the pandemic.

Bessent is heading up the Trump administration’s search for a new Fed chair. Yet despite his protestations, he is also widely seen as a leading potential replacement for Powell.

“He’s a top-tier candidate right now,” Stephen Moore, a senior economic adviser to Trump in his first term, said. Trump “wants to shake things up, so I think he wants an outsider.”

Two of the five candidates Bessent has named are current Fed officials: Governors Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman. The other three would fit the outsider criteria: Kevin Hassett, currently a top White House economic official; Kevin Warsh, a former Fed governor who has been highly critical of the Fed; and Rick Rieder, a senior managing director at asset manager BlackRock.

Late Tuesday, in an interview on Fox News with Bret Baier, Bessent said the administration is continuing to interview potential nominees for Fed chair. By mid-December, “the president will meet the final three candidates and hopefully have an answer before Christmas,” Bessent said.

Associated Press Writer Fatima Hussein contributed to this report.