Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and President Donald Trump led the Pick, which led the Ministry of Health and Welfare, testified in front of the important Senate Committee on Wednesday, where he was skeptical and abortion. Faced a question about his evolved views and his evolutionary views on the vast federal health program.
The 71 -year -old Kennedy first appeared before the Senate Finance Committee. This votes whether or not to go to the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which is nominated as a secretary of HHS. The Republican Party manages the Senate, if all the Democrats oppose him, Kennedy can only lose three votes.
He also appears in the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions for a courtesy hearing on Thursday.
He avoided many questions when Senator baked him on Wednesday. He also had a hard time answering some questions about Medicare and Medicade, and often said he would post it to Trump on policies in fields such as reproductive rights and prescription drugs.
If it is confirmed, Kennedy will supervise the $ 1.7 trillions of vaccines, other drugs, scientific research, public health infrastructure, pandemic preparation, food and tobacco products, and millions of Americans funded by the government. Take the agency’s reins. All other federal health agencies, including the Director of the Food Pharmaceutical Bureau, the Disease Control Prevention Center, the National Institute of Health, and Medicare & Medicade Service Center, have reported to HHS secretary.
Kennedy faces criticism from both sides of the aisle. He is a remarkable vaccine skepticism, and has claimed that they are associated with autism, despite the decades of researching their associations.
Kennedy said last week, he was also the founder of non -profit child health defense, the most funded anti -vaccine organization in the United States, and has stopped his appointment as an organization chairman or the highest lawyer as of December. I did it.
Some critics can prevent his job, which defends the use of vaccine, is costly, and when the vaccination rate is declining, more Americans can prevent them from acquiring recommended shots. I claim that there is sex.
The protest in the hearing room denied that he was anti -vaccine and blamed him when he was lying. It applauded and temporarily interrupted his opening remarks.
Senator Ron Widen (D-ORE), a member of the committee ranking, asked Kennedy about comments about the vaccine, so he shouted again. R-IDAHO, chairman of the committee chairman, R-IDAHO, threatened to bore hearing if the protest confused it.
Beyond the vaccine, Kennedy also previewed a plan to pursue his wide “American health” platform if it was confirmed as the best health authorities in the country. The platform claims that the decayed alliance of the Federal Health Organization, which regulates the drug company, a food company, and them, does not make Americans more healthy. Kennedy has long asserted that HHS’s director’s director needs reform or drastic overhaul.
Kennedy’s supporters say that some of his stances about food, such as emphasizing the risks of food additives and ultra -high -processed products, were widespread between Republican members and some Democrats. 。 However, Kennedy on Wednesday said he was not a “enemy of food producers” and stated that American farms were “rocks of our culture and national security.”
Caroline Kennedy, the candidate’s cousin and daughter of former President John F. Kennedy, wrote a letter to the Senator on Tuesday, called her cousin as a “predator” and did not confirm him. I urged it like.
Some of the important points from Wednesday’s hearing are as follows:
Kennedy defends the vaccine stance
On January 29, 2025, Robert F. Kennedy Junior, a candidate for President Trump, who will be the Secretary of the Health and Welfare before confirming the Senate Finance Committee on the Capitol Hill in Washington, Washington.
EVELYN HOCKSTEIN | Reuters
In the opening remark before the panel, Kennedy pushed back the claim that he was an anti -vaccine or anti -built -in business.
“I’m not so. I’m in favor,” Kennedy said. “I’ve been working for many years to increase the awareness of fish mercury and toxic chemicals, but I didn’t make me anti -fish. All my children have been vaccinated and the vaccine is healthcare. I think it plays an important role.
Kennedy engaged in a fierce discussion with the Senator about his vaccine views and said, “I support the measles vaccine and support polio vaccines.
Senator Ron Widen (D-ORE) did not buy the claim, but Kennedy’s previous remark emphasized in a book about not regarding measles as a threat.
Senator also pointed out Kennedy’s incorrect information on measles, mumps colds, and anticoa vaccines, which were associated with serious measles in Samoa in 2019. It happened a few months after Kennedy visited the island country.
Kennedy denied that it was related to the fatal outbreak.
“I can’t find Samoans,” I didn’t get vaccinated for Bobby Kennedy, “” he said.
When Widen asked if the measles were fatal, Kennedy did not answer the question directly. Kennedy claimed again that it was not anti -vaccine.
Widen also pressed Kennedy in the 2023 podcast and said, “There is no safe and effective vaccine.” Kennedy had previously revealed these statements and stated that he had no idea that Americans would get a specific vaccine.
Kennedy’s changing abortion stance
The Democratic Party pushed Kennedy to overturn his attitude toward abortions against political convenience, and whether he would do the same on other issues.
“When did you decide to sell the value you have for the rest of your life so that President Trump is given power?” Maggie Hassan, a member of the Democratic Party Senate in New Hampshire, has previously been the right to abortion right. He said that it refers to the support.
Kennedy said, “All pregnancy abortion is a tragedy.”
Kennedy asked him about his approach to the regulation on the abortion Pirmi Fepriston, and Trump said, “I want me to look at safety issues.” He added that the president has not yet taken a way to regulate it.
“No matter what he does, I will carry out those policies. I will cooperate with this committee to make them meaningful,” Kennedy said. It is a similar reaction he had when asked about other abortion policies.
There is a wide range of scientific evidence that the FDA is used to use and the approved tablets are safe.
Kennedy has a hard time answering Medicare and Medicade questions
On January 29, 2025, Robert F. Kennedy Junior, a candidate for President Trump, who will be the Secretary of the Health and Welfare before confirming the Senate Finance Committee on the Capitol Hill in Washington, Washington.
Nathan Howard | Reuters
Kennedy is R-LA. It seemed that Senator Bill Cassidi was struggling when he imposed a reform proposed to a state -territory medicade program that compensates about 80 million Americans, including many low -income earners. 。
Republicans can target Medicade. Medicade costs more than $ 600 billion per year to the federal government. Occasionally, Kennedy seemed to be confused with Medicade with Medicare. Medicare is a federal program that provides compensation to the elderly and Americans with disabilities.
Kennedy explained Medicade that the federal government was “completely paid.” However, this program is also funded by the state.
He also complained about high costs and said, “Insurance premiums are too high. The deduction is too high.”
However, most of the registrants of Medicade do not compensate for insurance premiums or deductions. Federal Law prohibits insurance premiums for the lowest income registrants.
Kennedy vaguely explained the efforts to reform Medicade and supported an increase in “transparency” and “accountability.”
