The Senate Confirmation Hearing of RFK Jr.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the controversial election of President Donald Trump to direct the Department of Health and Human Services, testified on Wednesday before a crucial panel of the Senate, where he faced questions about the skepticism of vaccines, his opinions evolving on evolution abortion and understanding of federal expanding health programs.

Kennedy, 71, appeared first to the Senate Finance Committee, who will vote if his nomination as HHS secretary advances to the complete camera. In the Senate controlled by Republicans, Kennedy can lose only three Republican votes if all Democrats oppose him.

It will also appear before the Senate committee on health, education, work and pensions for a courtesy hearing on Thursday.

He eluded many of the questions when the senators interrogated him on Wednesday. He also struggled to answer some questions about Medicare and Medicaid, he often said he would differ to Trump about policies in areas such as reproductive rights and pricing negotiations of prescription drugs.

If confirmed, Kennedy will take the reins of a $ 1.7 billion agency that supervises vaccines and other medications, scientific research, public health infrastructure, pandemic preparation, food and tobacco products, and medical care financed by The government for millions of Americans. Heads of Food and Medicines Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Health Institutes and Medicare and Medicaid service centers, among other federal health agencies, report the secretary of the HHS.

Kennedy has faced criticism from both sides of the hall. He is an outstanding skeptic of the vaccine, who makes false statements that they are linked to autism despite the decades of studies that discredit that association.

Kennedy is also the founder of the non -profit children's health defense, the most funded anti -cacuna organization in the United States in an ethics agreement of the Government last week, said he stopped serving as president or legal advisor head of the organization As of December.

Some critics have argued that their work that defends against the use of vaccines has cost lives and could deter more Americans from receiving recommended shots at a time when vaccination rates decrease.

A protester in the audience hall shouted when Kennedy denied that he was Anti -Vacuna, accusing him of lying. He scheduled applause, briefly interrupting his opening comments.

Shouting again interrupted the audience as a member of the committee classification, Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Asked Kennedy about his comments about vaccines. The Senator of the Mike Crapo committee, a Idaho Republican, threatened to recess the audience if more protesters interrupted it.

Beyond vaccines, Kennedy also foreseen how he plans to pursue his broad platform “Make America Healy Again” if confirmed as the nation's leading health official. The platform argues that a corrupt alliance of drug and food companies and federal health agencies that regulate them are causing Americans to be less healthy. Kennedy has long sustained that the agencies that supervises the HHS needs a reform or a radical review.

Kennedy supporters say that some of their positions around food, such as highlighting the risks of food additives and ultra -processed products, have affected a wide attraction between Republicans and some Democrats. But Kennedy said Wednesday that he is not “the enemy of food producers,” noting that American farms are “the basis of our national culture and security.”

Caroline Kennedy, a nominee cousin and daughter of former President John F. Kennedy, wrote a letter to the senators on Tuesday that referred to her cousin as a “predator” and urged them not to confirm it.

These are some of the key conclusions of the audience on Wednesday:

Kennedy, in his opening comments before the panel, retreated the claims that he is Anti-Vacuna or Anti-Industry.

“I am either; I am pro-segration,” Kennedy said. “I worked for years to raise awareness about mercury and toxic chemicals in fish, but that did not make me antifish. All my children are vaccinated, and I think vaccines have a critical role in medical care.”

Kennedy dedicated himself to a heated debate with the senators about his vaccine views, saying: “Support the measles vaccine, support the polyomyelitis vaccine, I will do nothing as secretary of the HHS that hinders or discourages it people who take them. “

Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Did not buy that statement, highlighting Kennedy's previous comments in a book about not seeing measles as a threat.

The senators also pointed out Kennedy's erroneous information about the safety of the measles vaccine, papers and rubella that was linked to a severe measles outbreak in Samoa in 2019 that left dozens of dead children. That outbreak occurred only months after Kennedy visited the Island nation.

Kennedy denied having something to do with the mortal outbreak.

“You can't find a single Samoan who says: 'They didn't vaccinate me due to Bobby Kennedy,” he said.

When Wyden asked if the measles is deadly, Kennedy did not answer the question directly. Kennedy argued again that he was not Anti -Vacuna.

Wyden also pressed Kennedy in his comments on a 2023 podcast in which he said: “There is no vaccine that is safe and effective.” Kennedy said he previously clarified those statements and that he would not dissuade Americans to obtain certain vaccines.

The Democrats pressed Kennedy about whether he had reversed his position on abortion for political convenience and if he would do the same on other issues.

“When did you decide to sell the values ​​that you have had all your life for President Trump to give him power?” Democratic Senator Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire said, pointing out her public support prior to abortion rights.

Kennedy, in response, said that “each abortion is a tragedy,” a line that repeated at least four times during the audience.

When asked about his approach to regulations around the abortive pill Mifepristone, Kennedy said Trump “wants me to analyze security problems.” He added that the president had not yet taken a position on how to regulate it.

“Whatever you do, I will implement those policies, and I will work with this committee so that these policies make sense,” Kennedy said. That is a similar response that he had when asked about other abortion policies.

There is ample scientific evidence that demonstrates that pills, which are regulated and approved for use by the FDA, are safe.

Kennedy seemed to fight when Senator Bill Cassidy, Republican of La-La, pressed it on the reforms he would propose for the Medicaid-Federal State program, which provides coverage to around 80 million Americans, including many low-income people.

Republicans could go to Medicaid, which costs the federal government more than $ 600 billion a year, to reduce financing this year to help pay tax cuts. Sometimes, Kennedy seemed to confuse Medicaid with Medicare, a federal program that provides coverage to major and disabled Americans.

Kennedy described Medicaid as “totally paid” by the federal government. But the program is also funded by the states.

He also said that many Medicaid affiliates were frustrated by high costs, saying that “premiums are too high. The deductibles are too high.”

But most Medicaid affiliates do not pay any premium or deductible for their coverage. The Federal Law prohibits premiums for the lower income medical affiliates.

Kennedy only vaguely described the efforts to reform Medicaid, saying that he supported the increase in “transparency” and “responsibility.”