Three key takeaways from Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Senate confirmation hearing

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump’s controversial pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, testified Wednesday before a crucial Senate panel, where he faced questions about past vaccine skepticism, his evolving views on abortion and grasp on sprawling federal health programs.

Kennedy, 71, appeared first before the Senate Committee on Finance, which will vote on whether his nomination as HHS secretary advances to the full chamber. In the Republican-controlled Senate, Kennedy can lose only three GOP votes if all Democrats oppose him.

He will also appear before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions for a courtesy hearing Thursday.

Senators grilled him Wednesday on his views on matters ranging from vaccines to abortion, and he sidestepped many of those questions. He also struggled to answer some questions about Medicare and Medicaid, and often said he would defer to Trump on policies such as reproductive rights and prescription drug price negotiations.

If confirmed, Kennedy will take the reins of a $1.7 trillion agency that oversees vaccines and other medicines, scientific research, public health infrastructure, pandemic preparedness, food and tobacco products, and government-funded health care for millions of Americans. The heads of the Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institutes of Health, and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, among other federal health agencies, all report to the HHS secretary.

Kennedy is one of Trump’s more controversial Cabinet nominees, facing criticism from both sides of the aisle. He is a prominent vaccine skeptic, making false claims that they are linked to autism despite decades of studies that debunk that association.

Kennedy is also the founder of the nonprofit Children’s Health Defense, the most well-funded anti-vaccine organization in the U.S. In a government ethics agreement last week, Kennedy said he stopped serving as chairman or chief legal counsel for the organization as of December.

Some critics have argued that his work advocating against vaccine use has cost lives and could deter more Americans from getting recommended shots at a time when vaccination rates are declining.

A protester in the hearing room shouted when Kennedy denied he was anti-vaccine, accusing him of lying. It sparked applause, briefly interrupting his opening remarks.

Shouting again interrupted the hearing as committee ranking member Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., questioned Kennedy about his comments about vaccines. Committee Chair Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, threatened to recess the hearing if any more protesters disrupted it.

Beyond vaccines, Kennedy also previewed how he plans to pursue his broad, “Make America Healthy Again” platform if confirmed as the nation’s top health official. The platform argues that a corrupt alliance of drug and food companies and the federal health agencies that regulate them are making Americans less healthy. Kennedy has long contended that the agencies that HHS oversees need reform or a sweeping overhaul.

Kennedy’s supporters say some of his stances around food, such as highlighting the risks of food additives and ultra-processed products, have hit on broad appeal among Republicans and some Democrats. But Kennedy on Wednesday said he is not “the enemy of food producers,” noting that American farms are “the bedrock of our culture and national security.”

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

Here are some of the key takeaways from Wednesday’s hearing:

Kennedy, in his opening remarks before the panel, pushed back on claims that he is anti-vaccine or anti-industry.

“I am neither; I am pro-safety,” Kennedy said. “I worked for years to raise awareness about the mercury and toxic chemicals in fish, but that didn’t make me anti-fish. All of my kids are vaccinated, and I believe vaccines have a critical role in health care.”

Kennedy engaged in heated debate with senators over his vaccine views, saying, “I support the measles vaccine, I support the polio vaccine, I will do nothing as HHS secretary that makes it difficult or discourages people taking” them.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., didn’t buy that claim, highlighting Kennedy’s previous remarks in a book about not viewing measles as a threat. 

Senators also pointed to Kennedy’s misinformation about the safety of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, which was linked to a severe measles outbreak in Samoa in 2019 that left dozens of children dead. That outbreak came just months after Kennedy visited the island nation. 

Kennedy denied having anything to do with the deadly outbreak. 

“You cannot find a single Samoan that says, ‘I didn’t get vaccinated because of Bobby Kennedy,'” he said.

When Wyden asked if measles is deadly, Kennedy did not directly answer the question. Kennedy contended again that he was not anti-vaccine.

Wyden also pressed Kennedy on his comments in a 2023 podcast in which he said, “There’s no vaccine that is safe and effective.” Kennedy claimed that statements he made on podcasts have “been repeatedly debunked” and said he would not dissuade Americans from getting certain vaccines.

Democrats pressed Kennedy on whether he had reversed his stance on abortion for political expediency, and if he would do the same on other issues. 

“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?” Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire said, pointing to his previous public support for abortion rights. 

Kennedy, in response, said “every abortion is a tragedy” – a line he repeated at least four times throughout the hearing. 

When asked about his approach to regulations around the abortion pill mifepristone, Kennedy said Trump “wants me to look at safety issues.” He added that the president had not yet taken a position on how to regulate it.

“Whatever he does, I will implement those policies, and I will work with this committee to make those policies make sense,” Kennedy said. That’s a similar response he had when asked about other abortion policies. 

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

Kennedy appeared to struggle when Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., pressed him on what reforms he would propose for the state-federal Medicaid program, which provides coverage to around 80 million Americans, including many low-income people. 

Republicans could target Medicaid, which costs the federal government more than $600 billion a year, for funding reductions this year to help pay for tax cuts. At times, Kennedy appeared to confuse Medicaid with Medicare, a federal program that provides coverage to older and disabled Americans. 

Kennedy described Medicaid as “fully paid for” by the federal government. But the program is funded by states as well. 

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

But the majority of Medicaid enrollees do not pay any premiums or deductibles for their coverage. Federal law bars premiums for the lowest-income Medicaid enrollees. 

Kennedy only vaguely described efforts to reform Medicaid, saying he supported increasing “transparency” and “accountability.”