Despite massive popular support, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. faced mounting criticisms from both Republicans and Democrats during his confirmation hearings for Sec. of Health and Human Services this week.
If he can maintain focus on resolving the chronic disease epidemic in America … he may be able to circumvent the harsh condemnation he’s likely to continue to confront.
Kennedy sat for two hearings — one on Wednesday with the Senate Committee on Finance and another on Thursday with the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP). While no other nominee has yet faced more than one committee hearing, Debra Sheldon of American Values, a PAC that supported Kennedy’s presidential nomination before dropping out to support Trump, states this is standard. The Senate Finance Committee has jurisdiction over health-related nominations and policies, including those that affect Medicare and Medicaid, she told The American Spectator. HELP conducts hearings to evaluate the nominee’s qualifications and policy positions.
Kennedy joins the group of what’s been categorized as “disrupters” within President Trump’s new administration. Along with Kennedy, Pete Hegseth, Tulsi Gabbard, and Kash Patel are perceived to upend the political status quo within their respective agencies. According to many supporters, these “outsiders” as they are often deemed, are exactly the types of leaders Washington, D.C. requires to drain the swamp — something Trump promised in his first term but was unable to successfully execute, in large part due to disloyal underlings and an entrenched bureaucracy that actively undermined his authority.
The American people unequivocally gave the incoming president a mandate to do just this, yet many in Congress seem to fear an upheaval to the system in which they have gained power and sometimes even wealth.
According to one report, the Senate Finance Committee has received roughly $7 million from drug companies between 2019 and 2024 (donations compiled by OpenSecrets.). Members of the Senate Health Committee have received more than $5.6 million in contributions from the pharmaceutical industry.
Given that, Marshall was particularly complementary of Kennedy during his first hearing on Wednesday even going so far as to say Kennedy was, “THE person to lead HHS to make America healthy again. That God has a divine purpose for you.”
Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass), not surprisingly was not as gracious. Warren, who has served in Congress for over a decade and is one of the most vocal Democrats against Kennedy, is a millionaire several times over. According to Open Secrets, the pharmaceutical and health products industries have contributed over $1 million to Warren’s campaign and associated super PACs.
Warren accused Kennedy on Wednesday of improper financial interests. Senator Crapo (R-ID) countered that by entering into the record that Kennedy has passed all the ethical and financial conditions of the Office of Government Ethics (OGE), which reviews every nominee in consideration to serve in the administration. In probably one of the most hyperbolic statements made during the day, Warren stated, “Kennedy can kill off access to vaccines, and make millions of dollars while he does it. Kids might die, but Robert Kennedy can keep cashing in.”
In a laughable exchange, Warren pressed Kennedy on whether he would commit to not accepting compensation from a drug or medical device company, hospital system, or health insurance company for at least four years after his service at HHS. Kennedy responded, “Who, me? Oh. Yea. I’m happy to commit to that. I don’t think any of them want to give me money by the way.”
She claims his anti-vaccination stance will “wipe away this progress and put American lives in danger” according to her letter to Kennedy that was published in the Washington Post earlier this month. Despite Kennedy’s many denials that he is blanketly anti-vax but supports more rigorous testing and transparency on vaccine trials, as well as accountability on the part of pharmaceutical companies, the progressive political and media machines will not let up. They consistently claim that he promotes health “misinformation.” Meanwhile, there is plenty of evidence that some vaccines, most notably the Covid-19 MRNA shot, do have significant side effects that have gone underreported and ignored.
Some Republicans Oppose Kennedy
However, Democrats weren’t the only ones mounting a resistance against Kennedy. Several Republicans are poised to block Kennedy’s confirmation, including those who no longer work in the Senate. Mike Pence and his organization, Advancing American Freedom, has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to run ads against Mr. Kennedy, accusing him of promoting “abortion on demand,” to seemingly influence the vote.
Kennedy seems to have flip flopped when it comes to the issue of abortion. During his days as a staunch Democrat, he supported almost unlimited access to abortion services. Now that he and his MAHA movement sit under the MAGA umbrella, he seems to have shifted his position to a more moderate, if not completely pro-life position.
Republicans can reconcile this discordance by highlighting the overturning of Roe v. Wade, which places the responsibility of abortion policy more firmly in state legislation than federal. Regardless, Kennedy committed in the hearings that no federal tax dollars would be used to conduct research on fetal tissue and no Title X funding would go toward services supporting abortions. On the topic of Mifepristone, Kennedy stated he would follow President Trump’s agenda.
Reports earlier this month said that independent Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and Pennsylvania Democratic Senator John Fetterman would potentially cross party lines and consider voting for Kennedy.
Still, many senators have been quite tight lipped when it comes to Kennedy’s vote. Members of Congress such as Bill Cassidy (R-La.) seem to struggle to fully support Kennedy because of his so called “anti-vax” stance, but remain supportive of his dedication and passion in ending the chronic disease epidemic that kills millions of people a year.
On Thursday, he opened with a passionate story about how he, a former doctor had to perform an emergency liver transplant on a young woman as a result of Hepatitis B. Her surgery left her with a lifetime of medical bills. It was an inflection point in his career. “Fifty dollars of vaccines could have prevented this all,” he said.
Whether those who oppose Kennedy serve to benefit from denying him the top position with the potential to disrupt the corporate capture of the HHS bureaucracy remains to be seen.
Kennedy performed well suffering nobly under the rants and ravings of unhinged Democrats this week. If he can maintain focus on resolving the chronic disease epidemic in America and delegate the responsibility of pandemic response and vaccinations to the experts that have been appointed to oversee the NIH (Jay Bhattacharya) and CDC (Dave Weldon) — the two main agencies responsible for those duties — he may be able to circumvent the harsh condemnation he’s likely to continue to confront en route to a confirmation vote. Word on the street is he’ll pull through and finally begin to tackle the great challenge ahead of making America health again.
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