In response to RFK Jr. being confirmed as secretary of Health and Human Services, DNC Chair Ken Martin released the following statement: 

“RFK Jr. doesn’t care about keeping Americans healthy – in fact, he has a track record of spreading medical misinformation that can cost lives. Trump’s only idea for health care is to steal money going to kids and seniors to give tax cuts to billionaires. RFK Jr. doesn’t even understand what HHS does, and yet, he will blindly go along with gutting Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act, stripping millions of people of coverage and undoing the historic work of Democrats to expand coverage to more Americans than ever before in our nation’s history. Republican senators must be held accountable when children can’t get care, rural clinics and hospitals shut down, and nursing homes go belly up.”

NEW: Senate Republicans confirmed conspiracy theorist RFK Jr. as the next secretary of Health and Human Services. 

Manu Raju, CNN: “52-48, Senate confirms RFK Jr for HHS. Mitch McConnell, the former Republican leader, is the lone GOP no vote.”

During his disastrous confirmation hearing, RFK Jr. doubled down on his conspiracy theories, including about 9/11, making it crystal clear he is unfit to lead. 

Sen. Tim Kaine: “A couple of months ago you posted this on your X account: ‘On 9/11, it’s hard to tell what is a conspiracy theory and what isn’t … As president I won’t take sides on 9/11 …’ What was so important about making this point in July of 2024?”

RFK Jr.: *Dodges*

…

Sen. Kaine: “As a general matter, do you find it hard to tell what is a conspiracy theory and what isn’t? Is that a general deficit that you find in your analytical abilities?”

RFK Jr.: *Dodges again*

Sen. Kaine: “So you won’t take sides on 9/11.”

Sen. Michael Bennet: “Did you say that Lyme disease is ‘highly likely a materially engineered bioweapon?’ I made sure I put in the highly likely. Did you say Lyme disease is a highly likely militarily engineered bioweapon?”

RFK Jr.: “I probably did say that.”

RFK Jr. made it crystal clear he will do whatever it takes to please Trump, including gutting Americans’ access to health care, medication abortion access, and lifesaving emergency care, and backs a national abortion ban. 

RFK Jr.: “Americans don’t, by and large, don’t like the Affordable Care Act. … They don’t like Medicaid.” 

Sen. Maggie Hassan: “So Mr. Kennedy, I’m confused. You have clearly stated in the past that bodily autonomy is one of your core values. The question is, do you stand for that value or not? When was it that you decided to sell out the values you’ve had your whole life in order to be given power by President Trump?”

RFK Jr.: “Senator, I agree with President Trump. …” 

Sen. Tammy Baldwin: “The most widely used medication abortion drug mifepristone has been FDA approved for nearly 25 years. More than 100 studies have confirmed that 99% of patients who took the abortion pill had no complications. So with all of that, I can only conclude that you would commit to keep this science-backed and proven medication on the market and accessible for women, is that correct?”

RFK Jr.: “With mifepristone, President Trump has not chosen a policy. I will implement his policy.”

RFK Jr.: “President Trump has asked me to study the safety of mifepristone. He has not yet taken a stand on how to regulate it. Whatever [Trump] does, I will implement those policies. I will work with this committee to make those policies make sense”

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto: “A pregnant woman with a life threatening bleeding from an incomplete miscarriage goes to the ER and her doctor also determines that she needs an emergency abortion, but she’s in a state where abortion is banned. You would agree also as an attorney that federal law protects her right to that emergency care, correct?”

RFK Jr.: “I don’t know.” 

Politico: “[RFK Jr.] said he would sign a federal ban on abortion”  

RFK Jr. – who has profited off peddling deadly conspiracy theories and funneled millions out of his own charity – refused to commit to profiting off lawsuits during his tenure as HHS secretary. 

Sen. Elizabeth Warren: “There’s a lot of ways that you can influence those future lawsuits and pending lawsuits while you are Secretary of HHS, and I’m asking you to commit right now that you will not take a financial stake in every one of those lawsuits so that what you do as secretary will also benefit you financially down the line?” 

RFK Jr.: *tries to change the topic* 

Sen. Warren: “That’s not the question.”

Mother Jones: “At issue was at least $67 million that Kennedy’s group had received and passed along over the previous six years—an eye-popping amount for a non-profit that prior to this influx of money had annual revenues of about $4 million, according to its tax filings. …

“His letter was prompted by a legal complaint that claimed WKA had ‘funneled millions of dollars to the Bahamas’ to assist Louis Bacon, a hedge-fund billionaire”  

Daily Beast: “Robert F. Kennedy Jr. failed to disclose hundreds of thousands of dollars he made from his anti-vax crusade, Donald Trump’s transition team has admitted … 

“But documents obtained by the Daily Beast show that Kennedy—after being nominated by Trump for his Cabinet—then quietly amended those forms to disclose that he had actually earned far more from his anti-vaccine nonprofit: a total of $1.2 million.” 

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