Democrats ‘ angry investigations of the candidate over vaccinations and pregnancy probably ended the Trump change team’s hope for a nonpartisan confirmation of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health and human services secretary on Wednesday.
Sen. Ron Wyden, the Democrats ‘ top panelist, opened his inquiries about Kennedy by releasing a violent letter containing personal attacks from Caroline Kennedy, the cousin of Kennedy. The email, sent to politicians on the day of Kennedy’s initial hearing by the previous U. S. adviser to Australia, condemned RFK Jr. as someone who “preys on the anguish of parents and ill kids”.
” It’s no wonder that he keeps birds of prey as pets because he himself is a predator”, the text read, going on to criticize Kennedy’s supposed” campaign against vaccination”, which became the centre of Democrats ‘ objections to his candidacy.
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” It’s time to make sure that we blow the whistle on really what your opinions are, at least for starting”, Wyden said.
Kennedy soon disputed his choice to use vaccinations for diseases like measles and polio.
” I support the smallpox vaccine. I support the smallpox vaccine”, Kennedy said. ” I will do nothing as HHS director to make it difficult or deter people from taking either of those vaccinations.”
In his launching speech, Kennedy prematurely addressed the issues raised by his prior accusations of vaccines and addressed a panel of politicians who have received about$ 7 million from the pharmaceutical industry only.
” News accounts have claimed that I am anti-vaccine or anti-industry. I am neither”, Kennedy said, before a small delay from protestors. ” I am pro-safety. No one called me anti-fish despite years of tireless efforts to raise awareness of the metal and dangerous chemicals in fish. And I think vaccinations are essential components of health treatment. All of my children are vaccinated”.
Democrats were almost unanimous throughout the hearing about their impulsive hostility toward the environmental lawyer who endorsed Trump after the Democrat Party thwarted his efforts to challenge President Joe Biden for the White House nomination. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat from Rhode Island, delivered a lecture to Kennedy instead of offering a legitimate inquiry.
” I only have five minutes with you”, Whitehouse said. ” So you’re just gonna have to listen”.
” Frankly, you frighten people”, the senator said, after demanding a newfound endorsement for vaccines as medically safe” when they in fact are”.
Kennedy spoke for 30 seconds following Whitehouse’s speech, pledging to work with the Rhode Island lawmaker on issues related to government transparency.
” Unfortunately, Mr. Chairman”, Sen. Whitehouse said, “one of the things I’ve learned in my tenure in the Senate is that a nominee saying that they’re willing to work with me amounts to exactly zero”.
Bernie Sanders, the far-left socialist senator from Vermont, pressed Kennedy about a pair of onesies with anti-vaccine messages being sold by a group supporting Kennedy.
Can you now tell us that you will — now that you are pro-vaccine — that you will have your organization remove these products from the market? Sanders said. ” Are you supportive of these onesies”?
Kennedy reaffirmed his commitment to vaccination and denied knowing who or what was responsible for the group selling the goods.
” I am supportive of vaccines”, Kennedy said repeatedly.
Sanders had previously praised Kennedy’s campaign slogan,” Make America Healthy Again.” In December, the Vermont senator released a statement outlining a series of reforms and said,” Yes. Let’s Make America Healthy Again in the wealthiest nation on earth.
” But when I asked Robert F. Kennedy if health care is a human right”, Sanders wrote on X after Wednesday’s hearing, “he couldn’t give me an answer”.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, a Democrat, allegedly flipped the script of her typical anti-corporation playbook by urging Kennedy to refrain from suing drug manufacturers. Kennedy pleaded with Warren to keep his promise to not “go to work suing the drug companies and taking your rate out of that while you’re secretary and for four years afterwards.”
Kennedy vowed to pay no fees while serving as HHS secretary, but he resisted saying he would not file lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies in his place.
“You’re asking me to not sue drug companies, and I’m not going to agree to that, Senator”, Kennedy said.
If confirmed, Warren addressed her questions by promising to keep Kennedy from profiting from any drug companies for the next eight years.
” I don’t think any of them want to give me money”, he said, which provoked laughter within the room.
Democrats also complained about Kennedy’s apparent about-face on abortion. Kennedy endorsed limits that were more in line with President Trump’s position on the issue than the Democrat who had previously supported the deadly procedure throughout her nine-month pregnancy. At Wednesday’s hearing, Kennedy recommitted to implementing Trump’s first-term abortion agenda at HHS while being questioned by Republican Sen. James Lankford from Oklahoma, and he told Sen. Steve Daines, a Republican from Montana, the agency would investigate the safety of mifepristone.
” He has not yet taken a stand on, on how to regulate it”, Kennedy said of the abortion pill, adding that “whatever he does, I will implement those policies”.
Kennedy’s support for Trump’s first-term abortion platform will likely blunt criticism from a group backed by former Vice President Mike Pence, Advancing American Freedom, which has targeted the HHS nominee as an abortion extremist. The group, however, according to CNN, has also received a six-figure donation from a pharma-funded foundation , built , on an empire of sugar substitutes and birth control pills.
Kennedy’s realignment on abortion enraged Democrat Sen. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, who accused him of being a” sellout”.
You have consistently stated in the past that bodily autonomy is one of your core values, Hassan said. Do you support that value, or do you not?
” Senator, I agree with President Trump that every abortion is a tragedy”, Kennedy said.
Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, who earlier expressed confidence in the confirmation of Kennedy and the possibility of her gaining Democrat support, was shocked by the Democrats ‘ animosity throughout the hearing on Wednesday.
“Can’t we come together as a nation and do this? … Aren’t you getting tired of this”? Johnson said as he watched his panel coworkers. ” I’m getting tired of this”.
