After speaking on Wednesday before the Senate Finance Committee, President Donald Trump’s nominee for head of the Department of Health and Human Services ( HHS) made a second testimony on Capitol Hill.
” The country is ready for change and recognizes this is a unique pronunciation time”, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in his entry speech to the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. If we don’t alter our course and ask the important problem,” Why are health care prices so high in the first place,” our country will fall beneath a lake of despair and debt.
Kennedy, citing the CDC, emphasized severe disease as” the clear answer” with “over 90 percent of health care investing” going towards “managing severe disease”.
” The president’s pledge is not to make some Americans healthy again, but to make all Americans healthy again”, Kennedy said. In order to achieve this unifying goal,” [W]e will bring all stakeholders together.”
Here are the highlights from Kennedy’s second Senate confirmation hearing:
Kennedy Highlights Senators ‘ Contributions to Pharmaceutical Industry Senators
After two days of questioning, Kennedy made the claim that panel members have cheated on the pharmaceutical industry while defending blind acceptance of medical treatments like vaccines.
” The problem of corruption is not just in the federal agencies, it’s in Congress too”, Kennedy said to Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. ” As many members of this panel, including yourself, are accepting millions of dollars from the pharmaceutical industry and protecting their interests,” said one member.
According to a Federalist analysis of industry donations , compiled by OpenSecrets, members of the Senate Health Committee, which questioned Kennedy Thursday, have received more than$ 5.6 million in contributions from Big Pharma roughly between 2019 to 2024. Members of the Senate Finance Committee, which questioned the HHS nominee Wednesday, received about$ 7 million in the same timeframe. Three senators serve on both committees.
Rand Paul Lectures Lawmakers On’ Science,’ Clashes With Cassidy
Republican Sen. Rand Paul used his five minutes to deliver a lecture to colleagues and asked lawmakers to “give the guy a break who says,’ I just want to follow the science, where it leads, without presupposition.'”
” I think really what we have up here is presupposition”, Paul said. ” We don’t know what causes autism, so we should be more humble in what we say”.
In the wake of the coronavirus outbreak in 2020, when the country was forced into mandatory vaccination for lockdowns to be lifted, Paul expressed Americans ‘ frustration with the public health establishment.
” ]L ] et’s have an honest debate about these things … If you say a six-month-old must be mandated to get]the Covid vaccine], the science is not there”, Paul said. “]T] here’s such a belief in submission — submit to the government, do what you’re told. There is no discussion. There ought to be a debate. You’re not going to let him have the debate, because you’re just going to criticize … this is why people distrust government”.
The Kentucky senator’s admonishment of his colleagues came shortly after questioning by the committee’s GOP chairman, Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who had just href=”https://x.com/RiegerReport/status/1885002616674927058″ target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>demanded Kennedy pledge to “reassure mothers” that certain vaccines “do not cause autism”. Kennedy, who repeatedly vowed to support vaccines throughout both hearings, told lawmakers that he” will absolutely do that” if given the necessary safety data.
Murray: People Will Die!
Sen. Patty Murray of Washington ranted in a hysterical rant at the end of her questions, saying that simply backing Kennedy and letting voters know he is “worth listening to” could lead to voter hysteria.
” ]H] e does not even need the levers of power to influence people”, she said. ” All he needs is a megaphone”.
Recent polling data indicate that Americans are overwhelmingly in favor of the MAHA movement and RFK Jr.’s plans to reform the food industry, according to The Federalist.
Kennedy Promises to Overturn Biden’s Adolescent Transgender Procedures
Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri pleaded with Kennedy to reverse the Biden administration’s guidelines for doctors to perform transgender procedures that are against their conscience.
” ]Biden’s ] HHS issued a rule, a rule so it’s binding, requiring that every doctor in America including pediatricians who receive any kind of federal funding” to” conduct gender transition and gender so-called affirming procedures. ” Hawley noted how this includes” almost every health provider in America,”
Will you rescind this rule that imposes this radical policy, I ask, “my question to you is. ” Hawley asked.
” Yes, I will,” Kennedy said without hesitation, adding that this rule is” anti-science.”
By the end of the decade, the transgender surgery industry is anticipated to be worth more than$ 5 billion.
Kennedy Refers to Ozempics as a “miracle drug.”
Sen. Andy Kim, a Democrat from New Jersey, requested Kennedy’s opinion on the most recent class of weight-loss medications, including Ozempic and Wegovy. Kennedy, who’s been a persistent critic of the medications called this” class of drugs”” miracle drugs “in Thursday’s hearing but qualified his support for them.
According to Kennedy,” I don’t believe they should be the first first first frontline intervention for 6-year-old children.”
In 2023, the American Academy of Pediatrics ( AAP )  , began recommending the drugs be used for children as young as 12 battling childhood obesity. The injections ‘ manufacturers are currently testing GLP-1 drugs for children as young as 6
If “every American who qualifies for a GLP by being overweight” were to use the drugs with federal funding, “it would cause a tsunami” for employers in this nation.
And they shouldn’t be prescribed for exercise alone, according to Kennedy, explaining that patients frequently experience muscle loss and numerous side effects as a result of use.
If confirmed, Kennedy would have to decide whether to support or reject the 11th-hour regulations that the Biden administration imposed to cover weight loss medications on federal insurance programs.
Obesity Is A” Risk For National Security.”
Jim Banks, a respected member of the Republican Party, was a respected Navy officer when Kennedy inquired about how the obesity epidemic in America is putting the military at risk.
” One of the things I’ve thought a lot about,” Banks, who also serves on the Armed Services Committee, said” is the national security risk of an obese nation.”
Banks cited recent recruitment goals as one of the reasons why obesity was mentioned. ” According to the Centers for Disease Control ( CDC ), 1 in 3 young adults aged 17-24 is” too heavy” to serve in the military.
