Kennedy makes policy commitments to Republicans in first confirmation hearing, says past statements were 'mischaracterized'

Editor's Note: A previous version of this article incorrectly linked the Children's Defense Fund to Kennedy. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is the founder, and former chairman and chief litigation counsel, for Children's Health Defense.
 

On Wednesday, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. presented himself for questioning to the Senate Finance Committee for a confirmation hearing to decide whether he will become the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.

During the more than three-hour hearing, Kennedy doubled down on his commitment to “gold-standard science,” stemming the chronic disease epidemic among Americans, and bringing a new level of transparency to HHS.

“For a long time, the nation has been locked in on a divisive healthcare debate about who pays when healthcare costs reach 20%, there are no good options, only bad ones,” Kennedy said. “Shifting the burden around between government and corporations and insurers and providers and families is like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.”

He also prominently declared that he is “not anti-vaccine,” in his opening statement.

Kennedy denied most of the claims made against him by Democrats, saying the statements were misinterpreted and misunderstood. He also claimed he had been singled out over his career for asking difficult questions, such as on the efficacy of vaccines and Project WARP Speed.

Democrats did not unilaterally decry Kennedy’s stated mission to Make America Healthy Again.

Many Democrats, in fact, said they agreed with Kennedy’s general aims, but concluded that Kennedy was not the right person to carry them out. Sen. Michael Bennet, from Colorado, was one such Democrat.

“What is so disturbing to me is that, out of 330 million Americans, we’re being asked to put somebody in this job who has spent 50 years of his life not honoring the tradition that he talked about at the beginning of this conversation, but peddling in half-truths, peddling in false statements, peddling in theories that you know create doubt about whether or not things that we know are safe are unsafe,” Bennet said.

Republicans by and large were less harsh with Kennedy and afforded him more opportunities to speak about his and President Donald Trump’s agenda.

Republicans mostly asked for a series of commitments from Kennedy to policies they champion. Some of the policies he committed to were pharmacy benefit manager reform, lowering drug prices, supporting rural healthcare, increasing transparency in dietary recommendations, and fixing the HHS refugee resettlement program, and continuing PEPFAR.

One Republican, Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La.., pressed Kennedy more than the others. Cassidy tried to drill Kennedy down on his specific ideas to reform the Medicare and Medicaid programs, which Kennedy said he couldn’t answer.

In questioning by Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., Kennedy explained his belief in the gold standard of science is being able to replicate studies, publishing raw data and publishing peer reviews of studies. As part of his promise on radical transparency, Kennedy said, “We should tell Americans when we don’t know.”

Democrats pressed Kennedy on his past statements and actions, like saying vaccines were not safe, his alleged involvement in the Samoa measles outbreak, his stated support for abortion, money he brought in from pharma litigation, his ideas for Medicaid reform, funding the National Institutes of Health and his involvement with the Children’s Health Defense organization.

Kennedy did not consistently answer “yes” or “no” to the questions. He largely denied saying inflammatory things or insisted his views were misrepresented. Kennedy did not respond clearly to the question on abortion, instead repeating the mantra “every abortion is a tragedy.”

To questions about his past statements on vaccines, Kennedy clearly said that he has never been anti-vaccine.

Several Republicans railed against former President Joe Biden’s actions on Title X and allowing mifepristone, used for medication abortion, to be delivered remotely. The Senators asked Kennedy to rectify these issues, and Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., asked Kennedy to commit to reviewing the approval of mifepristone. Kennedy did not respond affirmatively to Daines.

He also would not comment if the Emergency Medical Treatment And Labor Act (EMTALA) should apply to pregnant women who need an abortion to save their lives.

Senator Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., pressed Kennedy on his financial statements, including $2.5 million he received related to litigation against vaccine makers. She asked if he would commit to not accepting compensation from pharma-related lawsuits while in office, and to which he responded “yes.” He said he would not commit to not accepting compensation for the four years after he’s out of office.

Chairman Mike Crapo pointed out to Warner that Kennedy had undergone the same review as other political appointees and signed an ethics letter.

Crapo ended the hearing in a rush to get to a vote on the Senate floor. “You deserve to be confirmed,” he concluded.

Today, Kennedy will face the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) committee. Afterward, the committees will vote on whether Kennedy's nomination should go to the full Senate.