Pressure is mounting on Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as critics from both sides of the aisle crowd out senators opposed to President Trump's pick for the nation's top health official.
Kennedy's bipartisan opponents, including liberal allies and a group founded by former Vice President Mike Pence, say he is not a qualified candidate for Secretary of Health and Human Services.
Liberals point to Kennedy's longstanding anti-vaccine advocacy and role as founder of the prominent anti-vaccination group Children's Health Defense.
Democratic advocacy group Protect Our Care has spent about $1 million on a campaign highlighting how Kennedy could jeopardize the nation's health care system, running TV and digital ads about Kennedy's career. It runs advertisements, publishes reports using President Kennedy's own words, and holds events in key regions. Members of Parliament.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) pressed Kennedy last week in a foreshadowing of what he will face from Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee: letter He will answer 175 questions on a variety of topics, including vaccines, his changing positions on reproductive rights, his pledge to dismantle the National Institutes of Health, drug pricing, and the Affordable Care Act.
“Given your dangerous views on vaccine safety and public health, including your unsubstantiated opposition to vaccines, and your inconsistent statements on important policy areas such as reproductive rights access, I am disappointed in your ministry. “I have serious concerns about his ability to supervise the…” Warren wrote.
In many cases, Warren directly quoted Kennedy and asked for clarification on Kennedy's comments. For example, when Kennedy wrote in his book on vaccines in 2023:[t]There is virtually no science to evaluate the overall health impact of vaccination schedules or their component vaccines. ”
On the Senate floor Wednesday, Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) said that while Democrats may be sympathetic to President Kennedy's advocacy on healthy eating and food system reform, his past arguments against vaccines. He said he was disqualified and was putting his life at risk.
“We don't need to bring back measles and mumps to improve our food system. We don't need to bring back the horrors of polio in the name of cleaning up our diets,” Schatz said.
On the conservative side, Advancing American Freedom, a group founded by Mr. Pence, on Wednesday launched a six-figure ad campaign opposing Mr. Kennedy's nomination.
While the ad features President Kennedy's controversial comments on a variety of issues, AAF also highlights the former Democratic presidential candidate's past support for abortion.
“It's not an easy thing for a pro-life senator to sign this. I think it actually requires a lot of due diligence, and I don't think that's been done yet,” Advance American said.・Tim Chapman, President of Freedom, said:
Chapman said the organization wants it to be known that conservative senators are not the only ones questioning Kennedy's commitment to the anti-abortion cause. Their opposition will test whether traditional conservative advocacy remains important to a Republican Party reshaped under the Trump administration.
“It's strange to me that no other conservative has raised this issue,” Chapman said, expressing concerns privately but not speaking publicly for fear of backlash from Conservatives. He added that he had heard from members of Congress who were hesitant. The administration and its allies.
He wants to give them political cover.
“It's a very difficult environment right now for those people to go on record and speak out. So, you know, it's an obligation on our part to fly the flag and get attention and let the chips fall where they may. Chapman said.
The bipartisan criticism shows how narrow the path to confirmation is for Mr. Kennedy. If all Democrats vote against him, he would lose only three Republican votes.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) announced Wednesday that President Kennedy's confirmation hearing will be held on January 29th.
The hearing had been postponed due to delays in Kennedy's financial disclosure and ethics reports, but a hearing was scheduled as soon as they were posted online.
Republican senators who have met with President Kennedy have largely dismissed concerns about abortion.
President Kennedy sought to reassure Republicans that his personal views were not important and that he would implement all anti-abortion policies from the first Trump administration.
President Kennedy, a longtime abortion opponent, said: “We recognize that abortion is a tragedy and have surrounded ourselves with conservatives who have a proven track record of quickly reversing Biden's radical and unpopular abortion policies.'' Roger Severino, an activist who served as director of the Department of Health's Office of Civil Rights during the first Trump administration, said. said in an email.
