Dr. Mehmet Oz, a physician and TV personality, was confirmed Thursday by the U.S. Senate to lead the CMS, the federal agency responsible for providing health insurance to more than 160 million people. 

The 53 to 45 vote to confirm Oz fell along party lines. Two Democrats, Sens. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., and Patty Murray, D-Wash., did not vote.

He will take the reins of the CMS at a turbulent time for federal health programs and agencies after the HHS, which oversees the CMS, announced last week it would cut cut 10,000 full-time employees in a major restructuring. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the recently appointed HHS secretary, said 300 CMS employees would lose their jobs in the layoffs.

Republican lawmakers are also weighing cuts to government spending, which could impact the safety-net insurance program Medicaid.