Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appeared earlier than the Senate Committee on Finance for his first affirmation listening to as President Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of the Division of Well being and Human Providers (HHS) on Jan. 29.
Kennedy, who ran for president as a Democrat after which an impartial earlier than ending his White Home bid and backing Trump in August 2024, entered the chamber to applause from supporters within the viewers and shook fingers with lawmakers earlier than taking a seat.
The listening to showcased a pointy division between the events over Kennedy’s views. Most Republicans praised Kennedy for his previous advocacy work and his emphasis on addressing the nation’s power illness epidemic, whereas Democrats criticized the founding father of the Kids’s Well being Protection for his stance on vaccine efficacy.
Democrats and Republicans on the panel additionally questioned Kennedy on his abortion views.
Combating power illness, enhancing youngsters’s well being, and addressing company affect on authorities businesses have been very important components of Kennedy’s platform.
If confirmed, he would head a division that manages 13 businesses, together with the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention (CDC), the U.S. Meals and Drug Administration (FDA), and the Nationwide Institutes of Well being.
Kennedy will seem at one other listening to earlier than the Senate Committee on Well being, Training, Labor, and Pensions on Jan. 30, however solely the Senate Committee on Finance will vote on whether or not to advance him to a full Senate ground vote.
Kennedy should get a easy majority to achieve affirmation. Republicans maintain a 53–47 majority within the chamber.
1. Questioning Vaccine Stance
In his opening assertion, Kennedy stated: “Experiences have claimed that I’m anti-vaccine or anti-industry.
“I’m neither; I’m pro-safety.
“I labored for years to lift consciousness concerning the mercury and poisonous chemical compounds in fish, and no person known as me anti-fish.
“I consider that vaccines play a important function in well being care. All of my children are vaccinated.”
Kennedy engaged in a heated trade with Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), the rating member of the Senate Finance Committee, when Wyden requested the nominee about his view on the measles vaccine.
Wyden introduced up a 2023 podcast with Lex Fridman wherein Kennedy stated, “There’s no vaccine that’s secure and efficient.”
Kennedy stated his statements to Fridman had been taken out of context and clarified that he informed the interviewer that there is no such thing as a vaccine that’s secure and efficient for each individual.
“Each medication has people who find themselves delicate to them, together with vaccines, proper?” Kennedy stated.
He added that he wouldn’t forestall U.S. residents from getting vaccines.
“I assist the measles vaccine,” he stated. “I assist the polio vaccine. I’ll do nothing as HHS secretary that makes it troublesome or discourages folks from taking [vaccines].”
Kennedy reiterated that he believes vaccines are an integral a part of well being care and that he advocates for science-based research to enhance vaccine security.
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) requested Kennedy if he was a conspiracy theorist.
“That may be a pejorative, senator, that’s utilized to me, primarily to maintain me from asking troublesome questions of highly effective pursuits,” Kennedy stated.
He famous that he was known as a conspiracy theorist for saying that the COVID-19 vaccines didn’t forestall an infection or transmission of the illness. “And now all people admits it,” he stated.
Kennedy stated he additionally was labeled a conspiracy theorist for saying that Purple Dye 40 causes most cancers. “And now FDA has acknowledged that and banned it,” he stated.
2. Democrats Go on Offense
Democrats portrayed Kennedy as an unscrupulous profiteer who has modified his place on vaccines and abortion in an effort to acquire political energy.
“Mr. Kennedy has embraced conspiracy theories, quacks, charlatans, particularly in the case of the security and efficacy of vaccines,” Wyden stated. “It has been profitable for him, put him on the verge of immense energy.”
Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) continued the assault on Kennedy’s credibility and trustworthiness by mentioning that he’s pro-choice however is looking for a job in a pro-life administration.
“When was it that you just determined to promote out the values you’ve had your entire life in an effort to be given energy by President Trump?” Masto requested.
Kennedy answered, “Senator, I agree with President Trump that each abortion is a tragedy.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) appeared to recommend that Kennedy was profiteering primarily based on his involvement with a regulation agency that has introduced fits towards drug firms, saying that he had “raked in two and a half million {dollars}” in compensation.
Warren requested Kennedy if he would agree to not take compensation from lawsuits towards drug firms whereas in workplace and for 4 years after.
“You’re asking me to not sue drug firms?” Kennedy stated, including that he was not going to conform to chorus from bringing lawsuits as secretary.
3. Kennedy Helps Administration’s View on Abortion
Kennedy affirmed that he would observe the administration’s insurance policies on abortion regardless of being a longtime supporter of abortion entry as an advocate for bodily autonomy.
Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) famous that the Biden administration had denied his state federal funds below Title X—a program that funds household planning companies—over its refusal to publicize an abortion referral hotline.
Lankford, who’s pro-life, acknowledged that he disagreed with Kennedy on when life begins. He requested the nominee how he would deal with Title X funding as HHS secretary.
Kennedy stated he agreed with Trump on a number of points of the abortion debate and would observe the president’s lead.
“I agree with [President Trump] that we can’t be an ethical nation if we have now 1.2 million abortions a yr,” Kennedy stated. “I agree with him that the states ought to management abortion.
“President Trump has informed me that he needs to finish late-term abortions, and he needs to guard conscience exemptions, and that he needs to finish federal funding for abortions right here or overseas. … I serve on the pleasure of the president. I’m going to implement his insurance policies.”
Kennedy additionally stated Trump had requested him to analyze the security of the abortion drug mifepristone if confirmed as HHS secretary.
“We have to perceive the security of each drug—mifepristone and each different drug,” Kennedy stated when requested whether or not medical professionals must be required to report hostile results from the drug.
Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) challenged the necessity to examine the matter.
“Listed below are the security research that inform us mifepristone is secure and efficient,” she stated, producing a stack of paperwork. “The protection is proved. The science is there.”
4. Ending Continual Illness
Ending the power illness epidemic was a key a part of Kennedy’s presidential marketing campaign, and it has served as a extensively mentioned platform problem in his Make America Wholesome Once more motion.
In the course of the listening to, Masto instructed that Kennedy can be a “rubber stamp” for Trump’s agenda. Kennedy pushed again, saying that he was nominated as a result of he’s uniquely positioned to finish the nation’s “power illness epidemic.”
“Senator, the entire different disputes we have now about who’s paying and whether or not it’s insurance coverage firms, whether or not it’s suppliers, whether or not it’s HMOs, whether or not it’s sufferers or households—all of these are transferring deck chairs round on the Titanic,” Kennedy stated. “Our ship is sinking.”
Medicaid spending has skyrocketed in recent times, Kennedy stated, “and no different nation on this planet has what we have now right here.”
“We now have the very best power illness burden of any nation on this planet,” he stated.
Kennedy has criticized the usage of sure substances in meals merchandise, similar to Froot Loops cereal, and has stated that substances in Europe are higher than these in the US. He has additionally criticized fast-food big McDonald’s for making its french fries in seed oils as an alternative of tallow.
In the course of the listening to, Kennedy stated the rise in power illness is tied to substances in meals. He added that his “boss” likes to eat a McDonald’s cheeseburger washed down with a Eating regimen Coke.
“It is best to be capable to do this,” Kennedy stated, drawing some laughter from the gallery. “However you must know what the impacts are on your loved ones and your well being.”
Kennedy stated that the US “had 16 p.c of the COVID deaths in a rustic [that has] 4.2 p.c of the world’s inhabitants” and that U.S. residents who died with COVID-19 had, on common, a number of power illnesses.
“That is an existential menace economically, to our army, to our well being, to our sense of well-being, and it’s a precedence for President Trump,” he stated. “And that’s why he requested me to run the company, and if I’m privileged to be confirmed, that’s precisely what I’ll do.”
5. ‘Radical Transparency’
Kennedy has promised important modifications all through HHS.
He has repeatedly stated little will change till the affect of big or non-public companies on the FDA, the CDC, and the Division of Agriculture is addressed.
He has pledged to make sure transparency, a subject that was raised through the listening to.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) famous that he had problem extracting data from HHS and its Workplace of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) below the Biden administration.
“I count on you to supply to me the data and information I’ve requested and instruct HHS contractors to totally cooperate with my investigation,” Grassley informed Kennedy.
“I additionally count on HHS to not retaliate towards any whistleblowers, together with those that establish ORR’s failures in vetting sponsors of unaccompanied [minors].”
Kennedy replied that his strategy as HHS secretary can be “radical transparency.”
“If members of this committee or different members of Congress need data, the doorways are open,” he stated.
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) requested that 11 letters of assist, signed by hundreds of physicians, be entered into the report. He additionally famous that he had written greater than 70 oversight letters to federal well being businesses below the Biden administration.
He stated he has obtained redacted supplies and has “issued a subpoena now to cowl the data“ that he ”requested in 70 oversight letters.”
Johnson requested Kennedy if he would honor these requests from Congress and make HHS clear.
“My strategy for HHS, as I stated earlier than, senator, is radical transparency,” Kennedy stated. “Democrats and Republicans ought to have the ability to are available in and get data that was generated at taxpayer expense that’s owned by the American taxpayer. It shouldn’t get redacted paperwork.
“Public well being businesses must be clear. If we would like Individuals to revive belief within the public well being businesses, we want transparency.”