RFK Jr. Senate confirmation hearing highlights

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump’s controversial pick to steer the Department of Health and Human Services, testified Wednesday before an important Senate panel, where he faced questions on vaccine skepticism, his evolving views on abortion and grasp of sprawling federal health programs.

Kennedy, 71, appeared first before the Senate Committee on Finance, which can vote on whether his nomination as HHS secretary advances to the complete chamber. Within the Republican-controlled Senate, Kennedy can lose only three GOP votes if all Democrats oppose him.

He will even appear before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions for a courtesy hearing Thursday.

He sidestepped most of the questions as senators grilled him Wednesday. He also struggled to reply some questions on Medicare and Medicaid, and sometimes said he would defer to Trump on policies in such areas as reproductive rights and prescription drug price negotiations.

If confirmed, Kennedy will take the reins of a $1.7 trillion agency that oversees vaccines and other medicines, scientific research, public health infrastructure, pandemic preparedness, food and tobacco products, and government-funded health take care of hundreds of thousands of Americans. The heads of the Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institutes of Health, and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, amongst other federal health agencies, all report back to the HHS secretary.

Kennedy has faced criticism from either side of the aisle. He’s a distinguished vaccine skeptic, making false claims that they’re linked to autism despite many years of studies that debunk that association.

Kennedy can be the founding father of the nonprofit Kid’s Health Defense, probably the most well-funded anti-vaccine organization within the U.S. In a government ethics agreement last week, he said he stopped serving as chairman or chief legal counsel for the organization as of December.

Some critics have argued that his work advocating against vaccine use has cost lives and will deter more Americans from getting beneficial shots at a time when vaccination rates are declining.

A protester within the hearing room shouted when Kennedy denied he was anti-vaccine, accusing him of lying. It sparked applause, briefly interrupting his opening remarks.

Shouting again interrupted the hearing as committee rating member Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., questioned Kennedy about his comments about vaccines. Committee Chair Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, threatened to recess the hearing if any more protesters disrupted it.

Beyond vaccines, Kennedy also previewed how he plans to pursue his broad “Make America Healthy Again” platform if confirmed because the nation’s top health official. The platform argues that a corrupt alliance of drug and food corporations and the federal health agencies that regulate them are making Americans less healthy. Kennedy has long contended that the agencies that HHS oversees need reform or a sweeping overhaul.

Kennedy’s supporters say a few of his stances around food, resembling highlighting the risks of food additives and ultra-processed products, have hit on broad appeal amongst Republicans and a few Democrats. But Kennedy on Wednesday said he shouldn’t be “the enemy of food producers,” noting that American farms are “the bedrock of our culture and national security.”

Caroline Kennedy, the nominee’s cousin and daughter of former President John F. Kennedy, wrote a letter to senators Tuesday that referred to her cousin as a “predator” and urged them not to verify him.

Listed here are among the key takeaways from Wednesday’s hearing:

Senators also pointed to Kennedy’s misinformation concerning the safety of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine that was linked to a severe measles outbreak in Samoa in 2019 that left dozens of youngsters dead. That outbreak got here just months after Kennedy visited the island nation. 

Kennedy denied having anything to do with the deadly outbreak. 

“You can’t discover a single Samoan that claims, ‘I didn’t get vaccinated due to Bobby Kennedy,'” he said.

When Wyden asked if measles is deadly, Kennedy did in a roundabout way answer the query. Kennedy contended again that he was not anti-vaccine.

Wyden also pressed Kennedy on his comments in a 2023 podcast during which he said, “There is not any vaccine that’s protected and effective.” Kennedy said he has previously clarified those statements and that he wouldn’t dissuade Americans from getting certain vaccines.

Kennedy appeared to struggle when Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., pressed him on what reforms he would propose for the state-federal Medicaid program, which provides coverage to around 80 million Americans, including many low-income people. 

Republicans could goal Medicaid, which costs the federal government greater than $600 billion a yr, for funding reductions this yr to assist pay for tax cuts. At times, Kennedy appeared to confuse Medicaid with Medicare, a federal program that gives coverage to older and disabled Americans. 

Kennedy described Medicaid as “fully paid for” by the federal government. But this system is funded by states as well. 

He also claimed that many Medicaid enrollees were frustrated by high costs, saying “premiums are too high. The deductibles are too high.” 

But nearly all of Medicaid enrollees don’t pay any premiums or deductibles for his or her coverage. Federal law bars premiums for the lowest-income Medicaid enrollees. 

Kennedy only vaguely described efforts to reform Medicaid, saying he supported increasing “transparency” and “accountability.”