By AMANDA SEITZ, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Dr. Mehmet Oz, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, will testify before the Senate Finance Committee on Friday morning.

The 64-year-old was a respected heart surgeon who turned into a popular TV pitchman. Now he has his sights on overseeing health insurance for about 150 million Americans enrolled in Medicare, Medicaid or Affordable Care Act coverage.

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Republicans, who have coalesced around Trump’s nominees for the health agencies, are likely to ask Oz about his plans for Medicare and Medicaid, including the Trump administration’s focus on eliminating fraud from the $1 trillion programs.

Democrats, meanwhile, will question Oz’s tax filings, which they say show he has used a tax code loophole to underpay taxes by thousands of dollars on Medicare, the program he’ll oversee. They will also grill Oz on any cuts he would make to the health insurance coverage as well as comments on his TV show supporting privatized Medicare.

The U.S. Office of Government Ethics has done an “extensive review” of Oz’s finances, spokesman Christopher Krepich said in a statement about Oz’s taxes. He added that the office has indicated “any potential conflicts have been resolved and he is in compliance with the law.”

Oz has hawked everything from supplements to private health insurance plans on his former TV series, “The Dr. Oz Show,” which ran for 13 seasons and helped him amass a fortune.

Oz’s net worth is between $98 million and $332 million, according to an analysis of the disclosure, which lists asset values in ranges but does not give precise dollar figures. His most recent disclosure shows he also holds millions of dollars worth of shares in health insurance, fertility, pharmaceutical and vitamin companies. He has promised to divest from dozens of companies that would pose conflicts for him as the CMS administrator.

In the job, he could wield significant power over most health companies operating in the U.S. because he can make decisions about who and what are covered by Medicare and Medicaid.

Oz’s hearing comes as the Trump administration seeks to finalize leadership posts for the nation’s top health agencies. On Thursday, Senate committees voted to advance the nominations of Marty Makary, poised to lead the Food and Drug Administration, and Jay Bhattacharya, set to helm the National Institutes for Health, for a full Senate vote. The nomination of Dave Weldon to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was abruptly withdrawn Thursday.

Those men have all leaned into Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ‘s call to “Make America Healthy Again,” a controversial effort to redesign the nation’s food supply, reject vaccine mandates and cast doubt on some long-established scientific research.

“Americans need better research on healthy lifestyle choices from unbiased scientists,” Oz wrote late last year in a social media post praising Kennedy’s nomination to be the nation’s health secretary.

This isn’t Oz’s first time testifying before senators. In 2014, several senators scolded him during a hearing about the questionable weight loss products he hawked on his television show.

AP Health Writer Tom Murphy contributed to this report from Indianapolis.

By KEVIN FREKING, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate finds itself on Friday in a familiar position, working to avoid a partial government shutdown with just hours to spare as Democrats confront two painful options: allowing passage of a bill they believe gives President Donald Trump vast discretion on spending decisions or voting no and letting a funding lapse ensue.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer gave members of his caucus days to vent their frustration about the options before them, but late Thursday made clear he will not allow a government shutdown. His move gives Democrats room to side with Republicans and allow the continuing resolution, often described as a CR, to come up for a vote as soon as Friday.

A procedural vote Friday will provide a first test of whether the package has the 60 votes needed to advance, ahead of final voting likely later in the day. At least eight Democrats will need to join with Republicans to move the funding package forward.

“While the CR still is very bad, the potential for a shutdown has consequences for America that are much, much worse,” Schumer said.

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., speaks to reporters after a Senate policy luncheon on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, March 11, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Congress has been unable to pass the annual appropriations bills designed to fund the government, so they’ve resorted to passing short-term extensions instead. The legislation before the Senate marks the third such continuing resolution for the current fiscal year, now nearly half over.

The legislation would fund the federal government through the end of September. It would trim non-defense spending by about $13 billion from the previous year and increase defense spending by about $6 billion, which are marginal changes when talking about a topline spending level of nearly $1.7 trillion.

The Republican-led House passed the spending bill on Tuesday and then adjourned. The move left senators with a decision to either take it or leave it. And while Democrats have been pushing for a vote on a fourth short-term extension, GOP leadership made clear that option was a non-starter.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and others used their floor time Thursday to make the case that any blame for a shutdown would fall squarely on Democrats.

“Democrats need to decide if they’re going to support funding legislation that came over from the House, or if they’re going to shut down the government,” Thune said when opening the chamber.

Progressive groups urged Democratic lawmakers to insist on the 30-day extension and oppose the spending bill, saying “business as usual must not continue” while Trump and ally Elon Musk dismantle critical agencies and programs.

But Schumer said Trump would seize more power during a shutdown, because it would give the administration the ability to deem whole agencies, programs and personnel non-essential, furloughing staff with no promise they would ever be rehired.

“A shutdown would give Donald Trump the keys to the city, the state and the country,” Schumer said.

Democrats have been critical of the funding levels in the bill. They note that both defense and non-defense spending is lower than what was agreed to nearly two years ago when Congress passed legislation lifting the debt ceiling in return for spending restraints.

But they are even more worried about the discretion the bill gives the Trump administration on spending decisions. Many Democrats are referring to the measure as a “blank check” for Trump.

Spending bills typically come with specific funding directives for key programs, but hundreds of those directives fall away under the continuing resolution passed by the House. So the administration will have more leeway to decide where the money goes.

For example, a Democratic memo said the bill would allow the administration to steer money away from combating fentanyl and instead use it on mass deportation initiatives. At the Army Corps of Engineers, funding levels for more than 1,000 projects to enhance commerce, flood control and healthy ecosystems would be determined by the administration rather than Congress.

Democrats also object to the treatment of the District of Columbia, as the bill effectively repeals its current year budget and forces it to go back to the prior year’s levels, even though the district raises most of its own money. Mayor Muriel Bowser said the district would have to cut spending by $1.1 billion over just a few months.

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Democrats also object to clawing back $20 billion in special IRS funding, on top of the $20 billion rescission approved the year before. The changes essentially cut in half the funding boost that Congress intended to give the agency through legislation passed by Democrats during Joe Biden’s presidency.

The spending bill before the Senate is separate from the GOP effort to extend tax cuts for individuals passed in Trump’s first term and to pay for those with spending cuts elsewhere in the budget.

That second package will be developed in the months ahead, but it was clearly part of the political calculus Democrats were considering as they argued against the six-month extension. Both efforts are designed to help the well-off at the expense of other Americans, they said.

“You’re looking at a one-two punch, a very bad CR, then a reconciliation bill coming down, which will be the final kick in the teeth for the American people,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said the Democratic arguments were hypocritical because they were essentially calling for shutting down the government to protect the government.

“Democrats are fighting to withhold the paychecks of air traffic controllers, our troops, federal custodial staff,” Cotton said. “They can’t be serious.”

By MORGAN LEE, Associated Press

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A representative for the estate of actor Gene Hackman is seeking to block the public release of autopsy and investigative reports, especially photographs and police body-camera video, related to the recent deaths of Hackman and wife Betsy Arakawa after their partially mummified bodies were discovered at their New Mexico home in February.

Authorities last week announced Hackman died at age 95 of heart disease with complications from Alzheimer’s disease as much as a week after a rare, rodent-borne disease — hantavirus pulmonary syndrome — took the life of his 65-year-old wife.

FILE – Gene Hackman, right, and long-time friend Daniel Lenihan, discuss their new book, “Wake of the Perdido Star,” on Nov. 19, 1999, in Cloudclift Bakery, the cafe where they first dreamed up their adventure story, in Santa Fe, N.M. (AP Photo/Sarah Martone, File)

Hackman’s pacemaker last showed signs of activity on Feb. 18, indicating an abnormal heart rhythm on the day he likely died. The couple’s bodies weren’t discovered until Feb. 26 when maintenance and security workers showed up at the Santa Fe home and alerted police, leaving a mystery for law enforcement and medical investigators to unravel.

Julia Peters, a representative for the estate of Hackman and Arakawa, urged a state district court in Santa Fe to seal records in the cases to protect the family’s right to privacy in grief under the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, emphasizing the possibly shocking nature of photographs and video in the investigation and potential for their dissemination by media.

The request, filed Tuesday, also described the couple’s discrete lifestyle in Santa Fe since Hackman’s retirement. The state capital city is known as a refuge for celebrities, artists and authors.

The couple “lived an exemplary private life for over thirty years in Santa Fe, New Mexico and did not showcase their lifestyle,” the petition said.

New Mexico’s open records law blocks public access to sensitive images, including depictions of people who are deceased, said Amanda Lavin, legal director at the nonprofit New Mexico Foundation for Open Government. Some medical information also is not considered public record under the state Inspection of Public Records Act.

At the same time, the bulk of death investigations by law enforcement and autopsy reports by medical investigators are typically considered public records under state law in the spirit of ensuring government transparency and accountability, she said.

“I do think it does infringe on transparency if the court were to prohibit release of all the investigation records, including the autopsies,” Lavin said Thursday. “The whole idea of those records being available is to ensure accountability in the way those investigations are done.”

“There is also a public health concern given that hantavirus was involved,” Lavin said.

She said the preemptive request to prevent the release of government records on constitutional grounds is unusual.

Hackman, a Hollywood icon, won two Oscars during a storied career in films including “The French Connection,” “Hoosiers” and “Superman” from the 1960s until his retirement in the early 2000s.

Arakawa, born in Hawaii, studied as a concert pianist, attended the University of Southern California and met Hackman in the mid-1980s while working at a California gym.

What if John Wick weren’t trained as an assassin but also couldn’t feel pain?

Well, essentially, he’d be Jack Quaid’s Nathan Caine, the appealing protagonist of “Novocaine,” an action-comedy romp that has quite a bit of heart and punches a bit above its weight as it leaves a trail of blood while staggering into theaters this week.

You see, Nate has a rare genetic disorder, one that allowed his classmates in middle school to feel it was OK as they beat the tar out of him on the regular. That seemingly has made it difficult for him to make friends — his only real pal is fellow gamer Roscoe (Jacob Batalon), whom he’s never met in person but who, like Nate, lives in San Diego.

The life of assistant bank manager Nate takes an apparent turn for the better when his work crush, Sherry (Amber Midthunder), spills scalding coffee on him and wants to make it up to him with a lunch out. (Understandably, she seems to doubt him when he insists he’s absolutely fine as he puts some lotion on the affected area.)

At lunch, after awkwardly refusing a taste of her cherry pie and working on a milkshake, he comes clean to Sherry about his condition, explaining that he can’t eat solid foods out of fear he won’t know that he’s bitten into his tongue. However, she convinces him to have a bite, saying she is there in case anything goes wrong.

He takes that bite. His mind is blown. Pie! Wow, PIE!

And things only get better for him after she invites him to an art show where she will have a few pieces for sale.

The next day, Christmas Eve, he’s on cloud nine — that is until a trio of armed Santas walk into the bank and demand to be let into the vault. When they threaten to hurt Sherry, Nate coughs up the entry code.

The bad Santas take Sherry as a hostage, though, and use her as a human shield to get by the cops who’ve arrived on the scene. Nate, feeling he’s met the woman of his dreams, takes matters into his own hands by scooping up a gun and taking the squad car of an injured officer, who pleads with him to do neither of those things.

Thus, Nate begins down a road that will lead not to pain but to plenty of wounds as he works a trail he hopes will lead to Sherry.

Penned by Lars Jacobson (Peacock series “Fight Night”) and helmed by the directing tandem of Dan Berk and Robert Olsen (“Villains,” “Significant Other”), “Novocaine” finds the right tone — it’s silly but not overly silly.

Nate is far too close to coming across as indestructible at times — as with almost any action movie, the threat of a concussion is nonexistent, our hero taking savage blow after savage blow to the head — but he must have a bullet removed after being shot and becomes appropriately worried when a villain is poised to do unspeakable things to his eyes. (If you’re wondering, Nate’s condition — congenital insensitivity to pain, with analgesia — is, apparently, a rare but real disorder.)

Quaid — one of the better aspects of the overrated Prime Video series “The Boys” and an absolute delight as the voice of try-hard Starfleet officer Brad Boimler on the recently completed Paramount+ animated series “Star Trek: Lower Decks” — is the perfect actor for this role. Even while extraordinary in his way, Nate also is relatable as a man who’s lacked confidence all his life but is now determined to do whatever it takes to save the woman he loves.

While Quaid is the son of actors Meg Ryan and Dennis Quaid, the man portraying lead villain Simon, Ray Nicholson (“Smile 2”), also has a rather famous father in Jack Nicholson. The younger Nicholson has a touch of his father’s electricity on the screen, so you can’t help but guess bigger things are ahead for him career-wise.

More important to the winning formula of “Novocaine,” however, is Midthunder, who starred in 2022’s well-received straight-to-Hulu film “Prey,” an entry in the “Predator” franchise. As Sherry, she has strong chemistry with Nate and shows a different side to the character as the story evolves.

Lastly, there’s Batalon (“Spider-Man: Homecoming”), who gets a few laughs as Roscoe after Nate drags him into the affair.

Ultimately, “Novocaine” wins with violence and personality. It’s simply fun to hang out with Nate — who has an every-three-hours alarm to remind himself to use the restroom to guard against bladder damage and who takes a lickin’ but keeps on tickin’.

Plus, “Novocaine” has the decency to end before the premise has worn too thin — with a conclusion that hits the right notes.

It isn’t everything it could have been, but it’s a pain-free experience.

‘Novocaine’

3 stars (out of 4)

MPA rating: R (for strong bloody violence, grisly images, and language throughout)

Running time: 1:50

How to watch: In theaters on Friday, March 14

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