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RFK Jr. Senate confirmation of highlights highlights

RFK Jr. Senate confirmation of highlights highlights

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., The controversial election of President Donald Trump to lead 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 full chamber. In the Republican-controlled Senate, Kennedy can only lose three GOP votes if all Democrats oppose him.

He will also be released before the Senate Committee for Health, Education, Work and Pensions for a courtesy hearing on Thursday.

He described many of the questions when the senators grilled him on Wednesday. He also tried to answer some questions about Medicare and Medicaid, and often said that he would trump guidelines in areas such as reproductive rights and price negotiations for prescription medication.

If confirmed confirmed, Kennedy will take over the reins of a 1.7 billion agency in the amount of $ 1.7 trillion, vaccines and other medication, scientific research, infrastructure for public health, pandemic readiness, food and tobacco products as well as from Considered the health supply of millions of Americans. 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.

Kennedy was criticized by both sides of the aisle. He is a prominent vaccine skeptic and makes false claims that despite decades of studies that have exposed this association, they are associated with autism.

Kennedy is also the founder of the non-profit children’s health defense, the best-financed anti-Accacine organization in the United States in a state ethics agreement last week.

Some critics have argued that his work, which is committed to vaccines, cost lives and that more Americans could prevent it from receiving recommended recordings at a time when the vaccination rates are falling.

A demonstrator in 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 reduce 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 is confirmed as the top health officer of the nation. The platform argues that a corrupt alliance of drug and food companies 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 some of his attitude to food, such as the result of the risks of food additives and ultra-processed products, have achieved a broad attractiveness among Republicans and some 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 former 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 confirm him.

Here are some of the most important snack bars from the hearing on Wednesday:

Kennedy defends the vaccination stat

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the candidate of the US President Trump, who is a secretary for health and human services, attested on January 29, 2025 to confirm the Senate Financing Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, USA.

Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters

In his opening speeches in front of the panel, Kennedy pushed back the claims that he is 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 not considered a threat.

The senators also pointed out on Kennedy’s misinformation about the safety of measles, mumps and rubella vaccines that were associated with a severe measles outbreak in Samoa in 2019, in which dozens of children were dead. This outbreak came only a few 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 did not answer the question directly. Kennedy again claimed that he was not against Accacine.

Wyden also pushed Kennedy in a podcast from 2023 to his comments, in which he said: “There is no safe and effective vaccine.” Kennedy said he had previously clarified these statements and would not prevent the Americans from getting certain vaccines.

Kennedy’s postponement of abortion attitude

The Democrats urged Kennedy to reverse his attitude towards abortion due to political practicality and whether he would do the same 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 pointed out his previous public support for abortion rights.

Kennedy said in answer: “Every abortion is a tragedy” – a line that he repeated at least four times during the entire 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 how 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 a similar answer he had when he was asked about other abortion guidelines.

There are extensive scientific evidence that show that the pills that are regulated and approved for the FDA are safe.

Kennedy fights to answer Medicare, Medicaid questions

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the candidate of the US President Trump, who is a secretary for health and human services, attested on January 29, 2025 to confirm the Senate Financing Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, USA.

Nathan Howard | Reuters

Kennedy seemed to fight when Senator Bill Cassidy, R-La.,,

The Republicans could address Medicaid, which costs the federal government more than $ 600 billion a year, for the financing of reductions this year to support tax cuts in paying tax cuts. Sometimes Kennedy Medicaid seemed 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 the program is also 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, the majority of the Medicaid participants pay no premiums or a deductible for their cover. The Federal Law prohibits premiums for the writer for MedicAID inscriptions with the lowest income.

Kennedy only described vague efforts to reform Medicaid and said he supported the increasing “transparency” and “accountability”.

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