NY Senate Republican push for subpoena of nursing home data thwarted Updated Feb 03, 2021; By Amanda Fries | Times Union, Albany Albany, N.Y. — A last-minute motion for the Senate investigations committee to vote on issuing a subpoena to compel testimony from Department of Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker regarding nursing home coronavirus deaths was squashed and labeled as political by the committee’s chair Monday. Sen. Thomas O’Mara, a Southern Tier Republican and ranking member of the Senate Committee on Investigations and Government Operations, surprised committee chairman, Hudson Valley Democratic Sen. James Skoufis, when he made the motion to have committee members vote to subpoena Zucker.