During his first confirmation hearing as President Donald Trump’s choice for secretary of health and human services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appeared before senators on Wednesday. Democrats questioned him about his opinions on abortion and vaccines.
In his opening remarks, Kennedy attempted to shield himself from the anticipated lines of inquiry, which caused a protester in the gallery to briefly erupt.
“News reports have claimed that I am anti-vaccine or anti-industry,” Kennedy stated.
The individual exclaimed, “You are!” before being escorted from the room.
Kennedy went on: “I am pro-safety, but I am neither. I spent years trying to educate people about the harmful chemicals and mercury found in fish, but that didn’t make me anti-fish. I think vaccines are essential to health care, and all of my children have had them.
Watch the hearing live.
The public was informed that the hearing would adjourn to give police time to look into any more audience outbursts following another interruption by a protestor.
The Senate Finance Committee’s ranking member, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Kennedy got into a heated argument as Wyden tried to clarify Kennedy’s position on the measles vaccine.
“Is measles deadly, yes or no?” Kennedy did not explicitly respond to Wyden’s query. Kennedy argued once more that he had nothing against vaccines.
In a 2023 podcast, Kennedy stated, “There is no vaccine that is safe and effective.” Wyden questioned him about this statement.
None of them can be true, Mr. Kennedy. So, when you claim to be pro-vaccine today, are you lying to Congress? Wyden uttered those words.
Kennedy asserted that his podcast claims had been consistently refuted.
Additionally, he said that he would not discourage Americans from receiving specific vaccinations.
I am in favor of the measles vaccination. I am in favor of polio vaccination. Kennedy stated that as HHS Secretary, he would not take any action that would hinder or deter patients from taking medication.
Sen. Michael Bennet, a Democrat from Colorado, became enraged at another point when he questioned Kennedy about some of his earlier remarks.
Did you mention that Lyme disease is a materially manufactured bioweapon with a high probability? Did you mention that Lyme disease is probably a bioweapon that has been manufactured by the military?
Kennedy remarked, “I probably did say that.”
Bennet then questioned Kennedy about his prior pro-abortion remarks. Kennedy started to complain, but Bennet cut him off.
“This matters!” Bennet remarked, raising his voice. “This is a job where it is life and death for families all over this country.”
Kennedy was also questioned about whether federal law protects a pregnant woman’s access to emergency care if she has a life-threatening, incomplete miscarriage in an emergency room in a state where abortion is prohibited by Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev.
Kennedy answered, “I’m not sure.” I’m not sure, is the response.
Conservatives have voiced worries over Kennedy’s prior support for abortion rights, while Democrats mostly concentrated on his opinions on diseases and vaccines.
Kennedy stated to a podcast host last year that he would be in favor of letting women to have abortions at full term if that was their preference while he was running as an independent for president.
However, a few days later, he reversed his stance, writing on X that abortion should be permitted for a predetermined number of weeks and then restricted beyond that.
Kennedy stated that he thought states should regulate abortion on Wednesday when being questioned by Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla. He went on to list Trump’s positions on abortion, including his desire to stop late-term abortions and federal funding.
The president appoints me to this position. I will put his policies into effect.
Kennedy once mentioned the increase in chronic illnesses and food additives, but he also mentioned that his “boss” enjoys eating a McDonald’s hamburger and drinking Diet Coke.
Kennedy remarked, “You should be able to do that,” to some jeers at Trump’s preference for fast food. “But you should know what the impacts are on your family and your health.”
Kennedy is rare in that he has attracted outside opposition from both the right and the left, although several of Trump’s Cabinet choices have caused controversy.
He has been the target of derogatory funded advertising efforts, with conservatives denouncing his views on abortion and liberals condemning his anti-vaccine views.He has been publicly cautioned about by doctors and Nobel laureates, who have accused him of politicizing science.
His own family also gave him a scathing reprimand the night before his Senate Finance Committee hearing.
Caroline Kennedy, his cousin, penned a harsh letter on Tuesday requesting that the Senate reject his nomination. According to her, he was a predator who once took pleasure in a twisted spectacle of murder and anguish in which he fed his hawks by blending young mice and chickens. He allegedly lured other family members into addiction, she said.
She wrote that Bobby has an addiction to power and attention. Bobby builds a following by hypocritically advising other parents from vaccinating their children, taking advantage of the desperation of parents of ill children by vaccinating his own.
The letter was sent to the ranking members and chairs of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, which will meet with Kennedy again on Thursday, and the Finance Committee, which will vote on his nomination before it is sent to the Senate floor.
In order to be confirmed to one of the most powerful positions in the U.S. government, he needs to overcome a wide range of obstacles this week. Kennedy would be in charge of the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and other significant organizations as head of HHS.
If Democrats band together against him when the entire Senate votes on his candidacy, Kennedy can afford to lose only three Republicans. No Republican senator has publicly opposed him thus far.