Lack of a quorum stalled Wednesday's confirmation vote in the U.S. Senate Finance Committee for Seema Verma as the new administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Noting that Verma's nomination didn't stir the contention in the committee that other nominees had, Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said he hoped to see at least a few of his Democratic colleagues vote in favor of Verma. Those hopes appeared to be dashed when Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) decried the vagueness of Verma's written answers following last month's hearing. "What I read was a lot of health care happy-talk that didn't amount to much substance," he said. An unofficial proxy vote Wednesday showed only one Democrat supporting her nomination, and that senator has reportedly indicated he will likely go with his party when the official vote is taken. (See BioWorld Today, Feb. 17, 2017.)