Robert F. Kennedy Jr. faced his second day of questioning from senators Thursday as he seeks confirmation as President Donald Trump’s secretary of Health and Human Services.
Kennedy testified before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions just one day after completing a lengthy hearing before the Senate Finance Committee. He explained—and defended—his position on a wide range of health-related issues during the hearing.
The nominee promised in his opening statement that, if confirmed, he would make sure tax dollars support healthy foods, scrutinize the chemical additives to the country’s food supply, and remove the financial conflicts of interest from agencies. He promised to create an honest, science-driven HHS, accountable to the president, to Congress, and to the American people.
1. Vaccines: ‘What Will You Tell the American Mother?’
Despite stating in his opening statement that he is pro-vaccine, the former Independent candidate for president spent the majority of his more than three-hour hearing answering a barrage of questions on vaccine skepticism and his proposed vaccination policies.
“I want to make sure this committee is clear about a few things,” Kennedy said in his opening statement. “News reports and many in the hearing [Wednesday] have claimed that I’m anti-vaccine and anti-industry. Well, I’m neither. I’m pro-safety. I’m pro-good science.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., bookended the hearing by cross-examining Kennedy on his past statements linking vaccines and autism.
When asked if he would reassure mothers “unequivocally and without qualification” that the measles and hepatitis B vaccines do not cause autism, Kennedy said if presented with the data, he would not only support the vaccines, but would apologize for any previous statements that might have misled people otherwise.
“I will never stick on a point if someone shows me data that I am wrong,” Kennedy told the committee.
2. Vaccination Schedule
Kennedy later told Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., that he would support the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine schedule if confirmed. That schedule from the CDC recommends that babies receive over a dozen vaccines before reaching 16 months old.
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., a licensed ophthalmologist, told The Daily Signal in the hallway outside the hearing that he does not expect the CDC’s vaccine schedule to change if Kennedy is confirmed, but added that the vaccines schedule “should all be voluntary, and kind of is, in a way,” but noted that many schools require kids to have certain vaccines for attendance.
Voicing his doubt with regard to Kennedy’s record on vaccinations, Cassidy, a gastroenterologist by training, stressed the gravity of Kennedy’s influence with the American people.
“I recognize, man, if you come out unequivocally—‘vaccines are safe; it does not cause autism’—that would have an incredible impact,” Cassidy said. “That’s your power. So, what’s it going to be? Will it be using the credibility to support lots of articles, or will it be using credibility to undermine? And I’ve got to figure that out for my vote.”
Kennedy, a former law professor, repeated several times that he would have to look at the data in order to speak definitively on vaccinations. He said he could not be happier than if he were proved wrong.
3. ‘Bernie’ vs. ‘Bobby’
One of the more lively moments at Thursday’s hearing was a heated exchange between Kennedy and Sanders, who Kennedy referred to as “Bernie.”
“Almost all the members of this panel are accepting, including yourself, millions of dollars from the pharmaceutical industry,” Kennedy accused Sanders.
“Oh no, no, no, no, no, no,” the Vermont senator shot back.
Sanders said that when he ran for president he “got millions and millions of contributions,” but “they did not come from the executives, not one nickel of PAC money from the pharmaceutical industry. They came from workers.”
“In 2020, you were the single largest receiver of pharmaceutical money,” Kennedy responded to Sanders.
“Because I had full contributions from workers all over this country. Workers, not a nickel form corporate PACs,” Sanders insisted.
4. RFK Jr. vs. Fruit Loops
In true “Make America Healthy Again” form, Kennedy doubled down on his criticisms of current Food and Drug Administration standards in the United States.
“Kellogg’s makes Fruit Loops for the United States alone that is loaded with red dye, blue dye, yellow dye, and many, many other ingredients,” Kennedy said. “They make the same product for Canada; it’s all vegetable dyes.”
Food companies, he said, are able to mass-poison American children because of their influence over Congress and regulatory agencies.
“It needs to end, and I believe I’m the one person who’s able to end it,” he said.
5. Chronic Disease, Help From Farmers
The country will be destroyed “if we get this issue wrong,” Kennedy said, referring to the need to address chronic diseases in the U.S. According to Kennedy, combating disease in the U.S. directly depends on American farmers.
The Make America Healthy Again movement “simply cannot succeed if we do not have the partnership of America’s farmers,” he said.
“We are losing farmers today. We can’t afford to lose a single farmer,” Kennedy said. “On my watch, I do not want to lose a single farmer. We have to offer farmers an off-ramp from chemically intensive agriculture, which they don’t want to do, [and] which even the chemical industry is ready to change, … so that they can grow crops that could sell in Europe.”
Some of the chemicals and additives used on crops or given to livestock in the U.S. are banned in Europe.
“There’s illness all over the farm community [in the U.S.], and it’s undoubtedly related to the intensity of chemical pesticides,” he said.
6. Gender Treatments
The Biden administration issued a rule requiring doctors who receive federal funding to “conduct gender transition and gender—so-called, affirming—procedures,” Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said noting that courts blocked the rule from taking effect. The senator asked Kennedy if he would rescind that “radical policy.”
“Yes, I will,” Kennedy answered.
Hawley told The Daily Signal outside the hearing room that “there’s nothing more important than protecting our children,” adding that he would like Kennedy to rescind the Biden administration rule immediately if and when confirmed.
This article was originally published at www.dailysignal.com
