Business meeting to consider the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., of California, to be Secretary of Health and Human Services.
2025-02-04
Source: Congress.gov
Summary
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee convened to consider the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., to serve as Secretary of Health and Human Services. Committee members expressed significant concerns over his history of promoting anti-vaccine views, his lack of medical or public health experience, and potential conflicts of interest in ongoing vaccine litigation. Witnesses such as Senator Wyden and Elizabeth Warren emphasized that Kennedy's positions on science and health policy contradict established public health principles. The hearing also addressed his ethics agreement, his background as a legal figure rather than a health professional, and the committee's ultimate decision to reject the nomination by a vote of 14-13. Key issues included vaccine safety, access to healthcare, oversight of CDC and NIH, and the risk of politicizing public health decisions.
Participants
Transcript
The committee will come to order. We are meeting today to consider the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to be Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. We are still waiting to get all of our members here, and while we wait for that to occur, we will proceed with statements. And I will proceed first, then Senator Wyden, and then we will rotate from one side to the other until we are at a point where we are prepared for the vote. Mr. Kennedy, if confirmed, will have the opportunity to deliver much-needed change to our nation's health care system. He has spent his career fighting to end America's chronic illness epidemic and has been a leading advocate for health care transparency, both for patients and for taxpayers. Mr. Kennedy has also clearly responded to our questions during the rigorous due diligence process in his hearing also and in the course of answering over 900 questions for the record that were asked by members of this committee. In response to members of the committee, Mr. Kennedy has even amended his ethics agreement going beyond what is required by the Government Office of Ethics. Mr. Kennedy has proven his commitment to the role of Secretary of the HHS, and I will vote in favor of his nomination. I strongly encourage my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to do the same. And with that, I recognize our ranking member, Senator Wyden, for his remarks. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
I'll have a brief statement, and then several of my colleagues on our side are also going to make brief statements. This morning, we're going to vote on Robert Kennedy's nomination to serve as our nation's chief healthcare officer. Before we get to Mr. Kennedy and why I believe he is singularly unfit to serve as HHS Secretary, I'd like to say this. The last several days we've witnessed an authoritarian takeover of our federal government by Elon Musk and Donald Trump. They have set their sights on a full purge of anyone in government that doesn't bend the knee and follow their orders. They've taken over the Treasury Department's payment system. and colleagues that has a direct effect on major programs within our committee's jurisdiction that includes Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. For example, this committee voted for a major reform of pharmacy benefit manager legislation. We passed it 26 to nothing, but Trump and Musk killed it. think what they could do with abuse of the payment system. Now, in my view, much of this is of dubious legality and constitutional authority and certainly flies in face of congressional responsibilities. I'll wrap up on this point by saying I hope our colleagues on the other side of the aisle will not sit by while Musk and Trump make a mockery of the power Republicans hold in their congressional majority. Now more than ever, the American people need leaders that will stand up to these abuses. That brings me to Mr. Kennedy.
A recent analysis showed that Mr. Kennedy has made 114 separate appearances in just the last four years where he has espoused anti-vaccine views or spread information about the efficacy of vaccines. misinformation, specifically. In 36 of those instances, Mr. Kennedy directly linked vaccines to autism. Last week, Mr. Kennedy was given ample authority on a bipartisan basis to recant his decades-long career peddling anti-vaccine conspiracies. Instead, he spent his time with us dodging and weaving and gave no indication that if confirmed as HHS secretary, he would stand by the long-settled science surrounding routine vaccinations. Just take the Samoa measles outbreak as an example. Mr. Kennedy told me, and I quote, we don't know what was killing them, speaking about the 83 measles deaths during an outbreak of the disease in 2019. Just yesterday, colleagues, the Director General of Health from Samoa called this claim a total fabrication. peddling these conspiracy theories as the nation's chief health officer is going to be deadly for kids across the country. On abortion, Mr. Kennedy's answers once again raised still more questions. He refused to tell us whether he would blindly follow a directive from Donald Trump to break the law and end access to Mifepristone. and he seemed to have no understanding of his role in enforcing existing federal laws that guarantee women the right to life-saving abortion care. Mr. Kennedy also failed, on several occasions, to show a basic understanding of the Medicare and Medicaid programs he would be tasked with overseeing.
Colleagues, that alone should be disqualifying. Mr. Kennedy has given us no reason to believe there will be anything other than a rubber stamp for plans to gut Medicaid and rip health care away from the American people, and be a yes-man if ordered by Musk or Trump to take an illegal action. I close with this, colleagues. Today, we're going to make a judgment about the future of science in this country. We're going to make decisions that are going to impact the health and well-being of Americans for years to come. I agree, and I say this to my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, that the healthcare status quo needs substantial changes so we get better, more affordable care to patients. And that leaves, given my statement, the question in front of us now that's pretty simple. Do senators want their legacy to include disregarding basic health science and instead elevate conspiracy theorists? Making Robert Kennedy Secretary of Health and Human Services, in my view, colleagues, would be a grave threat to the health of the American people. And I urge my colleagues this morning to vote no. So, Senator Wyden, we have all of our members here.
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