Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at Senate hearing: Key points on vaccines, Medicaid, hospitals, chronic diseases, and more

In his first hearing before senators as he vies to become the nation’s top healthcare official, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. faced a series of tough questions about his past statements, his current views and his future plans.

Senators pressed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at a hearing on his nomination to be the U.S. Secretary of Health & Human Services.

The Senate Finance Committee met Wednesday on Kennedy’s nomination to lead the Department of Health & Human Services. Trump selected Kennedy to lead the nation’s primary health agency, and even among some of the president’s non-traditional picks for Cabinet posts, Kennedy looms as one of the most controversial choices.

Democratic senators pressed Kennedy with questions, including his past criticisms of vaccine safety. Some said they didn’t view him as qualified to lead the department, which includes the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, the Food & Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health, and others.

Republicans on the committee generally praised Kennedy. The GOP holds the majority in the U.S.Senate, but it’s a narrow majority (53-47), so a few defections could block Kennedy’s confirmation.

Here are some of the key points from Wednesday’s hearing. Another hearing on Kennedy’s nomination is planned before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

Vaccines

Democratic senators repeatedly questioned Kennedy - and criticized him - regarding his public statements questioning the safety of vaccines. Healthcare leaders have assailed Kennedy’s nomination, owing to his long record of disparaging comments of the safety of vaccines.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, the ranking Democrat on the committee, denounced Kennedy’s history of criticizing vaccines.

“He has made it his life's work to sow doubt and discourage parents from getting their kids life-saving vaccines. It has been lucrative for him and put him on the verge of immense power,” Wyden said. “This is the profile of someone who chases money and influence wherever they lead, even if that may mean the tragic deaths of children and other vulnerable people.”

“Peddling these anti-vaccine conspiracy theories as our chief health officer is going to endanger the lives of kids and seniors across the nation,” Wyden said.

Kennedy tried to push back against criticisms that he’s anti-vaccine, and said his kids were vaccinated.

“I am pro-safety,” Kennedy said at the hearing.

In response to questions from Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, Kennedy said, “I support vaccines. I support the childhood schedule.”

Wyden questioned Kennedy’s statements on podcasts critical of vaccines, and his petition to block COVID-19 vaccines. Kennedy said his efforts were designed to avoid children from being given the vaccines.

Kennedy said at the hearing he supports the use of measles vaccines and polio vaccines. Wyden countered that Kennedy has previously downplayed the risks of measles.

Kennedy’s support of the polio vaccine marked a change from his comments on a 2023 podcast, where he said the polio vaccines have contributed to a spike in cancers killing far more people than polio did, The New York Times reported.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Rhode Island Democrat, pointed to the contrasts between Kennedy’s past statements and the positions he offered at the hearing.

“Americans are going to need to hear a clear and trustworthy recantation of what you have said on vaccinations, including a promise from you never to say vaccines aren't medically safe when they in fact, are, and making indisputably clear that you support mandatory vaccinations against diseases where that will keep people safe. You're in that hole pretty deep,” Whitehouse said.

“Frankly, you frighten people,” he told Kennedy.

Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, asked Kennedy if he supports the organization he founded, Children’s Health Defense, selling “onesies” and other clothes for kids with slogans such as, “Unvaxxed Unafraid.”

Kennedy said he resigned from the board and didn’t control what the organization sold. He wouldn’t commit to Sanders’ entreaties to encourage the group to stop selling the products.

Medicaid

Some Democrats on the panel asked about Kennedy’s support of Medicaid, especially in the disruption that ensued earlier this week when Medicaid portals were down nationwide amidst Trump’s order freezing most federal spending. The White House said the portals weren’t meant to be affected and there were no plans to interrupt Medicaid. Trump rescinded the order to freeze spending Wednesday, a day after a judge blocked it.

Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican and a physician, asked Kennedy if he is looking at reforms to Medicaid to help pay for Trump’s priorities. Cassidy, the chairman of the Senate HELP Committee, is a key vote on Kennedy’s confirmation.

Kennedy didn’t offer a specific strategy, but he said, “Medicaid was originally designed for a target population, the poorest Americans. It's now been dramatically expanded, and the irony of the expansion is that the poorest Americans are now being robbed.”

Lawmakers questioned Kennedy about whether he would have stood up to Trump and defended Medicaid. Kennedy offered sharp criticisms of the Medicaid program, which he said isn’t working well for the nation’s poorest Americans.

“We need to figure out ways to improve care, particularly for elderly, for veterans, for the poor in this country, and Medicaid, the current model, is not doing that,” Kennedy said. “I would ask, you know, any of the Democrats who are chuckling just now, do you think all that money, the $900 billion that we're sending to Medicaid every year has made Americans healthy? Do we think it's working for anybody?”

Sen. Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat, said in response, “I’ve gotta tell you, for literally hundreds of thousands of Virginians, Medicaid is what prevents them from health crisis on a daily and weekly basis.”

Hospitals and emergency care

Kennedy fielded questions about emergency care for hospitals in states with abortion bans.

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, a Nevada Democrat, posed questions about federal emergency law in the context of states with abortion restrictions. Hospitals and doctors in states with abortion bans have wrestled over when they can intervene and provide emergency abortion care.

Cortez Masto asked Kennedy about the rights of a pregnant woman having a miscarriage, when her doctor determines she needs an emergency abortion procedure. She asked, “You would agree, also, as an attorney, that federal law protects her right to that emergency care, correct?”

Kennedy said he’s not sure of the answer. “Not every federal law preempts state laws. It could be unconstitutional,” he said.

Cortez Masto asked Kennedy about his responsibilities to uphold the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, the federal law requiring hospitals to provide emergency care.

Kennedy answered, “My understanding is that I have budgetary power and that it's pretty much limited to that… I don't even think that we have a law enforcement branch.”

Cortez Masto countered, “Actually you do, and that's CMS. CMS actually investigates complaints of EMTALA violations, as well as the Health and Human Services Inspector General, who, by the way, was just recently fired by Donald Trump. So you will be enforcing EMTALA laws, and it's important that you understand their impact, and don't play politics with the patient presenting at the ER based on a position that this administration has taken.”

Rural hospitals

Some senators asked Kennedy about his plans to improve healthcare in rural communities.

Sen. John Barrasso, a Wyoming Republican and a doctor, noted that the state has more than 30 hospitals, with most in rural areas, and six hospitals are at risk of closing. He said 10 of the state’s hospitals have had to reduce services, including labor and delivery. Barrasso noted that Republicans and Democrats share bipartisan concerns about the problems facing rural hospitals.

Barrasso asked, “Can you commit to working with us on a plan to address the critical nationwide issue of rural healthcare?”

Kennedy pledged to work on rural healthcare. He said that he visited nearly 60 members of the Senate and the plight of rural hospitals was one of the two most common bipartisan sentiments (the other was pharmacy benefit manager reform).

“Rural hospitals are closing at an extraordinary rate right now,” Kennedy said. “They not only provide important healthcare for the localities, but also they’re economic drivers for localities all over this country. President Trump is determined to end the hemorrhage of rural hospitals.”

Kennedy also pointed to telehealth and artificial intelligence as important tools to support rural hospitals.

Barrasso also criticized the Biden administration’s plans for minimum nurse staffing standards at nursing homes. He said the requirement would drive nursing homes out of business and didn’t reflect the reality of the lack of registered nurses in rural communities.

Kennedy suggested support for revisiting the staffing rule.

“I think the rule was well intentioned,” Kennedy said. “But as you said, and I've heard from many rural senators, it will be a disaster for their states.”

Abortion and mifepristone

Kennedy was questioned repeatedly about his shifting stance on abortion rights. When he ran for president, he said he supported abortion rights and said the government shouldn’t be telling women what to do.

During the hearing, Kennedy repeatedly said, “Every abortion is a tragedy.” He repeated that he agreed with Trump on the tragedy of abortion.

Sen. Maggie Hassan, a Democrat from New Hampshire, pointed out the discrepancy in his position.

“Regardless of what you believe, regardless of what values you have, if President Trump tells you to do something, you're going to do it,” Hassan said.

Sen. James Lankford, a Republican from Oklahoma, asked Kennedy if he would be looking into the safety of mifepristone, a medication to end pregnancies, if he’s confirmed.

Kennedy responded that Trump hasn’t taken a “detailed position” on mifepristone, but he said that Trump has made it clear he wants him to look at the safety issues of all drugs, including mifepristone.

Later, Hassan sought to enter into the record what she said were nearly 40 studies affirming the efficacy of mifepristone. “Here are the safety studies that tell us mifepristone is safe and effective,” Hassan said.

Hassan also said, tongue in cheek, that she is glad that “my Republican colleagues are so open to voting for a pro-choice HHS secretary.”

Kennedy’s past support of abortion rights have worried some conservatives, including former Vice President Mike Pence, who has urged the Senate to reject Kennedy’s nomination.

Chronic diseases

Kennedy has championed the cause of ending chronic diseases as a core argument in his bid to become the nation’s health secretary.

“Trump has asked me to end the chronic disease epidemic and make America healthy again,” Kennedy said.

Republicans lauded Kennedy’s commitment to attack chronic diseases as one of their main reasons for supporting his nomination.

Sen. Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican, praised Kennedy’s commitment, even as he noted he hasn’t always agreed with him in the past. But he said Kennedy’s willingness to focus on chronic diseases and find answers to the nation’s public health challenges are “the answer to my prayers.”

Kennedy was asked if fighting chronic disease is his only concern in seeking the post, and he said without solving that issue, all the other disputes “are moving deck chairs around the Titanic.”

“This is an existential threat, economically, to our military, to our health, to our sense of well being, and it is a priority for President Trump, and that's why he asked me to run the agency,” Kennedy said.

Noteworthy moments

Sen. Michael Bennet, a Colorado Democrat, elicited one of the more noteworthy moments of the hearing when he asked Kennedy about his past statements.

While other lawmakers asked about his vaccine views, Bennet also asked Kennedy to confirm if he had previously said that Lyme disease is likely a “militarily engineered bio weapon.”

Kennedy answered, “I probably did say that.”

Seemingly surprised, Bennet said he wanted to make sure his colleagues heard that.

Noting his conflicts with previous statements on abortion rights and vaccines, Bennet said he hoped his colleagues would say to the president, “Out of 330 million Americans, we can do better than this.”

Sen. Warren also asked Kennedy to commit to not taking money from drug companies, medical device companies or hospitals during his time as secretary, or for four years afterward. She pointed out Kennedy has earned $2.5 million in referral fees from a law firm.

Kennedy committed to not taking funds while serving as health secretary, but he said he wouldn’t commit to not suing drug companies after he leaves the post. Warren wasn’t satisfied.

“Robert Kennedy will have the power to undercut vaccines and vaccine manufacturing across our country, and for all of his talk about follow the science and his promise that he won't interfere with those of us who want to vaccinate his kids, the bottom line is the same. Kennedy can kill off access to vaccines and make millions of dollars while he does it,” Warren said.

Still, some Republican senators made it clear that they see Kennedy being confirmed. Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said he supports Kennedy’s confirmation.

“You have gone through the most thorough vetting process that any committee in this Congress puts anybody through, and I think that you have come through well and deserve to be confirmed,” Crapo said.