Robert F. Kennedy Jr., The controversial election of President Donald Trump to guide the Ministry of Health and Human Services.
The 71 -year -old Kennedy first appeared before the Senate Finance Committee, who will vote on whether his nomination as a HHS secretary enters the total chamber. In the Republican-controlled Senate, Kennedy can only lose three GOP votes if all Democrats oppose him.
He will even be released before the Senate Committee for Health, Education, Work and Pensions for a courtesy hearing on Thursday.
He described most of the questions when the senators grilled him on Wednesday. He also tried to reply some questions on Medicare and Medicaid, and sometimes said that he would trump guidelines in areas similar to reproductive rights and price negotiations for prescription medication.
If that is confirmed, Kennedy takes over the reins of A $ 1.7 Billion agency This supervises vaccines and other medicines, scientific research, public health infrastructure, pandemic willingness, food and tobacco products in addition to the health supply of thousands and thousands of Americans financed by the federal government. The heads of the Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institutes of Health and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, including all report on the HHS secretary.
![RFK Jr. testifies to the hearing to confirm the Senate for HHS Secretary](https://image.cnbcfm.com/api/v1/image/108094136-17381663131738166309-38208767558-1080pnbcnews.jpg?v=1738166311&w=750&h=422&vtcrop=y)
Kennedy was criticized by each side of the aisle. He is a distinguished vaccine skeptic and makes false claims that despite a long time of studies which have exposed this association, they’re related to autism.
Kennedy can also be the founding father of non-profit children's health defense, one of the best financed anti-access organization within the USA in a single Government ethics agreement Last week he said he stopped in December to function chairman or senior legal advisor to the organization.
Some critics have argued that his work, which is committed to vaccines, cost lives and that more Americans could prevent it from receiving beneficial recordings at a time when the vaccination rates are falling.
A demonstrator within the listening room called when Kennedy denied that he was anti-accine and accused him of being lied. It triggered applause and briefly interrupted its opening speeches.
The hearing broke again when Senator Senator Ron Wyden, D-ORE, Kennedy, Senator Ron Wyden, asked about his comments on vaccines. The chairman of the committee, Senator Mike Crapo, R-IDAHO, threatened to scale back the hearing if other demonstrators disrupted them.
In addition to the vaccines, Kennedy also made a preview of how he plans to pursue his wide platform “Make America Healthy” when he’s confirmed as the highest health officer of the nation. The platform argues that a corrupt alliance of drug and food firms and the federal health agencies that they regulate make the Americans less healthy. Kennedy has long claimed that the agencies that monitors HHS need a reform or a comprehensive overhaul.
Kennedy's supporters say that a few of his attitude to food, similar to the results of the risks of food additives and ultra-processed products, have achieved a broad attractiveness amongst Republicans and a few Democrats. But Kennedy said on Wednesday that he was not “the enemy of food producers” and notices that American farms are “the foundation of our culture and our national security”.
Caroline Kennedy, the cousin and daughter of the previous President John F. Kennedy of the candidate, wrote a letter to the senators who described her cousin as “predator” on Tuesday and asked her not to substantiate him.
Here are a few of crucial snack bars from the hearing on Wednesday:
Kennedy defends the vaccination stat
In his opening speeches in front of the panel, Kennedy pushed back the claims that he’s anti-vaccine or anti-industry.
“I'm not either; I'm a Pro-Safety,” said Kennedy. “For years I have worked on sharpening the awareness of the mercury and toxic chemicals in fish, but that didn't do me against fish. All of my children are vaccinated, and I think vaccines play a crucial role in health care.”
Kennedy conducted heated debates with senators about his vaccine views and said: “I support the measles vaccine, I support the polio vaccine, I will do nothing but HHS secretary that makes it difficult or discouraged people who take”.
Senator Ron Wyden, D-ORE., Didn't buy this claim and emphasized Kennedy's earlier comments in a book that measles are usually not considered a threat.
The senators also identified on Kennedy's misinformation in regards to the safety of measles, mumps and rubella vaccines that were linked A severe measles outbreak in Samoa in 2019, which made dozens of kids dead. This outbreak got here only a couple of months after Kennedy had visited the island station.
Kennedy denied to have something to do with the fatal outbreak.
“You can't find a single Samoan who says: 'I was not vaccinated because of Bobby Kennedy,” he said.
When Wyden asked whether measles was fatal, Kennedy didn’t answer the query directly. Kennedy again claimed that he was not against Accacine.
Wyden also pressed Kennedy on his comments in a single 2023 podcast In which he said: “There is no vaccine that is safe and effective.” Kennedy said he had previously clarified these statements and wouldn’t prevent the Americans from getting certain vaccines.
Kennedy's postponement of abortion attitude
The Democrats urged Kennedy to reverse his attitude towards abortion as a result of political practicality and whether he would do the identical in other questions.
“When did you decide to sell the values you had all your life to get power from President Trump?” Democratic Senator Maggie Hassan from New Hampshire said and identified his previous public support for abortion rights.
Kennedy said in answer: “Every abortion is a tragedy” – a line that he repeated at the least 4 times during the complete hearing.
When Kennedy was asked about regulations related to the abortion pill Mifepristone, he said, Trump “wants me to look at security problems”. He added that the president had not yet put a position on the way it should regulate.
“Whatever he does, I will implement these guidelines and work with this committee to make these guidelines meaningful,” said Kennedy. This is the same answer he had when he was asked about other abortion guidelines.
There are extensive scientific evidence that show that the pills which can be regulated and approved for the FDA are secure.
Kennedy fights to reply Medicare, Medicaid questions
Kennedy appeared to fight when Senator Bill Cassidy, R-La.,, 80 million Americansincluding many individuals with low incomes.
The Republicans could address Medicaid, which costs the federal government greater than $ 600 billion a yr, for the financing of reductions this yr to support tax cuts in paying tax cuts. Sometimes Kennedy Medicaid gave the impression to be confused with Medicare, a federal program that covers older and disabled Americans.
Kennedy described Medicaid by the federal government as “fully paid”. But this system can also be financed by states.
He also claimed that many Medicaid participants of high costs are frustrated and said: “Premiums are too high. The deductible are too high.”
However, nearly all of the Medicaid participants pay no premiums or a deductible for his or her cover. The Federal Law prohibits premiums for the author for MedicAID inscriptions with the bottom income.
Kennedy only described vague efforts to reform Medicaid, and said he supported the increasing “transparency” and “accountability”.
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