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The Trump administration’s Food and Drug Administration transition team is taking shape, with a former adviser to ex-Commissioner Stephen Hahn and a top executive of a communications firm that has worked with Trump’s FDA commissioner pick Marty Makary. The team is in conversations with a top Capitol Hill aide about a key role at the agency. (Zhang, 1/3)

On Friday, when the U.S. Congress began its 119th session, new Senate Majority Leader John Thune said the upper chamber would work swiftly to “ensure President Trump has his team in place to secure our border, protect our homeland, and provide for our nation’s defense.” But by Sunday the South Dakota Republican was tapping the brakes as he made the talk show rounds, explaining that Trump’s top picks are going to have some “hard questions” to answer before they are confirmed. (Medsger, 1/5)

The top U.S. ethics official charged with preventing government workers' conflicts of interest is about to take the hot seat in Washington, as President-elect Donald Trump's new Cabinet and other appointees declare their financial assets and prepare for their new jobs. "We are in touch with the transition team and working with them," said David Huitema recently when he sat down with Reuters for his first official interview since being sworn in for the job on Dec. 16. Ethics experts say the director of the Office of Government Ethics, or OGE, is in the spotlight during any presidential transition, but Huitema faces special challenges ahead of Trump's second term, evaluating a myriad of business ties for Trump, his family and advisers. Experts pointed to the short, rocky tenure of Walter Shaub, the last person to hold the job when Trump entered the White House. (Timmons and Borter, 1/5)

Rick Perry, a former governor of Texas who also served in the first Trump administration, says the president-elect’s new choices for key health policy positions are a “great gift” for the psychedelics reform movement, particularly as it concerns access to ibogaine as a treatment option for serious mental health conditions. ... The former Department of Energy (DOE) secretary also sharply criticized the Schedule I status of ibogaine under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), saying the designation means “it can’t even be used for clinical trials” and “can’t be medically used to see, is there some good that can come out of this?” (Jaeger, 1/3)