Robert F. Kennedy Jr. faced a slew of hostile and at times unhinged attacks from Democrat senators Wednesday during his first confirmation hearing as President Donald Trump’s nominee for Health and Human Services secretary.
During his opening statement, Kennedy focused on his unifying “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) agenda and pushed back on media reports that he is an anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist for asking questions.
“Today, Americans’ overall health is in a grievous condition,” RFK Jr. testified.
Over 70 percent of adults and a third of children are overweight or obese. Diabetes is ten times more prevalent than in 1960. Cancer among young people is rising by one or two percent a year. Autoimmune diseases, neurodevelopmental disorders, asthma, Alzheimer’s, ADHD, depression, addiction, and a host of other physical and mental health conditions are on the rise. The United States has worse health than any other developed nation, yet we spend far more on healthcare — at least double; and in some cases, triple. Last year we spent $4.8 trillion, not counting indirect costs like missed work. That’s almost a fifth of GDP. It’s tantamount to a 20 percent tax on the entire economy. No wonder America has trouble competing with countries that pay a third what we do, yet have healthier workforces.
But I don’t want to make this too much about money. It’s the human tragedy that moves us to care. A healthy person has a thousand dreams. A sick person has only one. Today, over half of our countrymen and women are chronically ill.
When I met with President Trump last summer, I discovered he has more than just “concern” for this tragic situation, but genuine care. President Trump has committed to restoring the American Dream, and 77 million Americans delivered a mandate to do just that – due in part to his embrace and elevation of the Make America Healthy Again movement. This movement – led largely by MAHA moms from every state, is one of the most powerful and transcendent I’ve ever seen. I have promised President Trump that if confirmed I will do everything in my power to put the
health of Americans back on track.
Kennedy stated that he has prayed to God daily for the last 20-years in hopes he would one day be put in a position like the one he hopes to secure this week.
“In my advocacy I’ve often disturbed the status quo by asking uncomfortable questions. Well, I’m not going to apologize for that. We have massive health problems in this country that we must face honestly. And the first thing I’ve done every morning for the past 20-years is to get on my knees and pray to God that he would put me in a position to end the chronic disease epidemic and help America’s children,” Kennedy said.
“That’s why I’m so grateful to President Trump for the opportunity to sit before you today to seek your support and partnership in this endeavor,” he continued. “I will conclude with a promise to members of this committee, to the president, and to all the tens-of-millions of parents across America — especially the moms — who have propelled this issue to center stage. Should I be so privileged as to be confirmed we will make sure our tax dollars support healthy foods, we will scrutinize the chemical additives in our food supply, we will remove financial conflicts of interests from our agencies, we will create an honest, unbiased, gold-standard science at HHS accountable to the president, to Congress and to the American people, we will reverse the chronic disease epidemic and put the nation back on the road to good health.”
Democrats grilled Kennedy on past statements he’s made about vaccines, infectious disease and other health-related issues, accusing him of profiting off his cause and promoting conspiracy theories.
Ranking member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) tore into Kennedy during his opening statement, accusing the former environmental lawyer of embracing vaccine “conspiracy theories.”
“The receipts show that Mr. Kennedy has embraced conspiracy theories, quacks, and charlatans, especially when it comes to the safety and efficacy of vaccines,” Wyden lisped. “He’s made it his life’s work to sow doubt and discourage parents from getting their kids life-saving vaccines.
It’s been lucrative for him and put him on the verge of real power. This is the profile of somebody who chases money and influence wherever they lead, even if that means the deaths of children and other vulnerable people.”
Health care industry giants like Molina Healthcare, Fresenius Medical Care, Quest Diagnostics, Genesis Healthcare, Novo Nordisk, and Pfizer, it should be noted, are among the Oregon Democrat’s top donors.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) told Kennedy that in order for him to be confirmed, “Americans are going to need to hear a clear and trustworthy recantation of what you have said on vaccinations.”
The senator told Kennedy that he needed to “promise to never say vaccines aren’t medically safe when they, in fact are, and make it indisputably clear that you support mandatory vaccinations against diseases where that will keep people safe.”
“You’re in that hole pretty deep,” Whitehouse added. “Frankly, you frighten people.”
“News reports have claimed that I am anti-vaccine or anti-industry,” Kennedy testified. “I am neither; I am pro-safety. I worked for years to raise awareness about the mercury and toxic chemicals in fish, but that didn’t make me anti-fish. All of my kids are vaccinated, and I believe vaccines have a critical role in health care.”
When Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) asked Kennedy if he is a conspiracy theorist, Kennedy responded, that is a pejorative Senator, that is applied to me mainly to keep me from asking difficult questions to powerful interests.
The nominee rattled off a number of supposedly conspiratorial positions he had taken in the past that were later proven to be true.
“I was told that I was a conspiracy theorist—that able was applied to me—because I had said the COVID vaccines wouldn’t prevent transmission or infection when the government was telling people that it would,” Kennedy said.
He explained that he knew this because he had read the clinical studies the pharmaceutical companies had done on monkeys.
“Now everyone admits it,” Kennedy noted, before adding that he was also called a conspiracy theorist “for saying that red dye caused cancer and now the FDA has acknowledged that and banned it.”
As American Greatness reported earlier this month, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) finally ordered food and drug manufacturers to remove Red Dye no. 3 from their products decades after a study found a link between the colorant and cancer.
Additionally, Kennedy noted that he was called a conspiracy theorist when he said fluoride lowered IQ.
“Last week, JAMA published a meta-review of 87 studies [link] that showed a direct correlation between IQ loss …” RFK Jr. continued before Tillis interrupted him.
“I could go on all week,” the nominee stated.
Senator Bernie Sanders, the Senate’s top recipient of Big Pharma dollars, focused bizarrely on the anti-vax onesies sold on the website of the organization Kennedy founded, Children’s Health Defense.
“Right now as I understand it, on their website, they are selling what’s called onesies,” the 83-year-old said, pointing to a large visual aid featuring the errant products. “One of them is titled ‘unvaxxed, unafraid!” he fretted. “Next one is no vax, no problem!”
Sanders lambasted Kennedy for claiming he isn’t against vaccines when his organization “is making money selling a child’s product to parents for 26 bucks which casts fundamental doubt on the usefulness of vaccines!”
After the Vermont socialist demanded that RFK Jr. have Children’s Health Defense take the products off the market, Kennedy stated that he no longer had power over the organization because he had resigned from the board.
“Are you supportive of this?!” Sanders persisted. “Are you supportive of these onesies!”
Independent journalist Megyn Kelly could be seen laughing in the gallery behind Kennedy as he answered, “I am supportive of vaccines.”
“Are you supportive of this clothing which is militantly anti-vaccine?!” Sanders bellowed.
“I am supportive of vaccines, I want good science, Kennedy replied before he was interrupted by the octogenarian.
“But you will not tell the organization you founded not to continue selling that product!” he concluded exasperatedly.
Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), the only senator to take an interest in the alarming rise in miscarriages, strokes, blood clots, cancers, and neurological issues seen in COVID vaccine recipients during the Biden years, defended Kennedy, saying he was “highly disappointed” but not surprised by the Democrats’ hostility toward his nomination.
Johnson recounted how RFK Jr. had called him and told the senator how he was considering putting his political differences with Trump aside and uniting with him on addressing chronic disease and other healthcare issues.
“I said, Bobby, this is an answer to my prayers,” Johnson recalled. “We need to get to the answers for this but even more, we need to heal and unify this divided nation.”
The Wisconsin Republican said although the nation faces enormous challenges, he felt optimistic because “here’s somebody from the left—somebody I don’t agree with on many issues politically—and focusing on an area of agreement on something the American people desperately want: finding out the answers—what has caused autism, what is causing chronic illness?”
“Mr. Kennedy, I know—I think I’ve come to know what’s in your heart. I think I know the personal and political price you paid for this position. I want to say publicly I thank you for that. I truly appreciate what you’re doing here,” Johnson continued amid a smattering of applause in the Senate gallery.
“Can’t we come together as a nation and do this?” the senator pleaded.
Speaking to Democrats, Johnson added: “aren’t you getting tired of this? I’m getting tired of this.”
The senator then entered into the record eleven letters of support signed by 63,000 nonpartisan medical professionals.
Senator Roger Marshall (R-Kans.), a physician, also strongly endorsed Kennedy and his MAHA movement.
“60 percent of Americans have a chronic disease. Mr. Kennedy, I believe for such a time as this that you’re not just one of 300 million people,” he said. “I think that you are the person to lead HHS to make America healthy again. That God has a divine purpose for you. And I look forward to your confirmation in working with you to make America healthy again.”
Conservative influencer Rachel Bovard, who attended the hearing Wednesday, reported that the “untold story of the RFK Jr hearing is the support for him in the room.”
“The crowd in the room is completely with him,” Bovard posted on X. “They’re applauding his answers and audibly laughing at lines of “outrage” questioning from Dems. Some of the Dem senators appear rattled by it. It’s remarkable to witness. The MAHA movement showed up today.”
In a subsequent post, Bovard described the audience’s reaction when Senator Liz Warren (D-Mass.) brought up the Biden regime’s despised censorship efforts: “Latest case in point: the crowd audibly cackles when Senator Warren accuses RFK of being on the Biden admin’s list of ‘Disinformation Dozen,'” she wrote.
Author and commentator Walter Kern also attended the hearing and shared his thoughts throughout the day on X.
Kern predicted that Kennedy will be confirmed, saying “the Dems resembled a panel of nasty unhappy pharma lawyers. Wow. What an unmasking.”
“And RFK will be confirmed, I predict,” he posted. “He smoked them.”
Never did I ever believe I would be supportive of any Kennedy in my lifetime, however, RFK, Jr. is the leader we need at HHS. I pray, too, that he is confirmed and that he can overcome the vipers’ nest at HHS. He represents the best kind of appointee: knowledgeable, trustworthy, and passionate about the subject matter over which he will have jurisdiction. He will have a $1.7 trillion budget. If that’s not power, I don’t know what is. It is time for Americans to take up arms against Big Pharma + Big Food + Big Healthcare. They are killing us, robbing us of our quality of life, in no small part due to the efforts at HHS these many decades. This is more than a course correction. It must be a revolution, and one based on honesty and transparency from the agency that has hurt so many with lies and obfuscation. As Democrats so often wail, “Do it for the Children!”