WASHINGTON — (AP) — In a contentious confirmation hearing to become the nation's top health official, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. struggled to answer questions about Medicare and Medicaid, programs that affect tens of millions of Americans, or to provide details about how he would work to drive down health care costs.
Kennedy had faced a well-funded opposition campaign from Republicans and Democrats who highlighted his anti-vaccine rhetoric and support of abortion access. Democrats questioned his past remarks, while Republicans praised him for his ideas to reduce food additives and hopes to research a rise in diseases.
As President Donald Trump's choice to be Secretary of Health and Human Services, he ended Wednesday's three-hour hearing before the Senate Finance Committee with strong endorsements from Republicans for him to lead the department that accounts for $1.7 trillion in federal spending.
But Kennedy needs backing from nearly all Republicans to land the job. And one key vote from Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, a physician who heads up the Health, Education, Labor and Pension committee that Kennedy will sit before Thursday, appeared still uncertain.
Kennedy had no answers for Cassidy, who asked the nominee to share plans for Medicaid reform, a multibillion-dollar taxpayer-funded program that covers health care for about 80 million people, including children. Republicans have said they might need to make deep cuts to Medicaid to fund Trump’s proposals.
After Cassidy pressed him several times, Kennedy finally replied, “I don't have a broad proposal for dismantling the program."
He went on to misstate how the biggest programs at the agency work, eliciting corrections from senators throughout the hearing. Medicaid, he wrongly said, is fully paid for by the federal government — it’s not; states and federal taxpayers fund it. Later, he talked about Medicaid's “high premiums and high deductibles," although the virtually-free program has neither. He appeared confused about questions on the hundreds of community health clinics the agency funds in cities across the country or the role it plays in a federal law that mandates emergency rooms to stabilize anyone who presents at their facility.
And on some of the most controversial questions — like his plans for abortion — he deferred to Trump. Kennedy, a longtime Democrat, had previously said during his failed presidential bid that he supported access to abortion but on Wednesday he said that every abortion is a “tragedy.”
Kennedy tried to assure senators that he supports childhood vaccines, pointing out that his children are vaccinated. “I believe that vaccines play a critical role in health care,” Kennedy told the committee.
Republicans didn't ask about Kennedy's views on vaccines. Democrats, though, repeatedly brought up previous remarks or evidence that Kennedy has discouraged their use. The accusations often led to a terse back-and-forth and outbursts from the audience.
Democrats also pointed to Kennedy’s writings, podcast appearances and other comments to show that Mr. Kennedy has embraced conspiracy theories and unproven alternative remedies, especially when it comes to the safety and efficacy of vaccines. Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado pressed Kennedy over controversial and false claims he's made about COVID-19, pesticides and AIDS. Kennedy acknowledged some of the statements and denied others.
Bennet retorted, “This is a job where it is life and death for the kids that I used to work with in Denver public schools and for families all over this country that are suffering.”
Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont who caucuses with Democrats, said he endorsed Kennedy's slogan, “Make America Healthy Again” but the comity stopped there. He accused Kennedy of being hypocritical over his vaccine views. To prove his point, Sanders displayed a photo of baby onesies that say “Unvaxxed Unafraid” selling on the website of the Children's Health Defense, the anti-vaccine advocacy group that Kennedy headed up until recently.
Kennedy said he had nothing to do with the product, and pointed out he is no longer with the group.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., repeatedly asked Kennedy if he would agree to not collect money off lawsuits against drugmakers after disclosing in ethics filings that he would continue to collect legal fees from a lawsuit against Merck, over Gardasil, its human papillomavirus vaccine that prevents cervical cancer. He made $850,000 from the arrangement last year. If approved as health secretary, Warren raised several changes Kennedy could make that might enrich profits off such lawsuits, including appointing anti-vaccine advocates to vaccine advisory panels, removing vaccines from recommendations or changing the way the vaccine injury compensation program works.
He would not commit to Warren's ask.
“No one should be fooled here, as Secretary of HHS Robert Kennedy will have the power to undercut vaccines and vaccine manufacturing across our country," Warren charged.
Sen. Tina Smith of Minnesota, meanwhile, asked Kennedy to explain his unfounded suggestions that a dramatic increase in school shootings in recent decades could be linked to an increase in antidepressant use.
“These statements you’ve made linking antidepressants to school shootings reinforce the stigma that people who experience mental health face every single day,” said Smith, who shared she benefitted from using the drugs as a young woman.
Some Republicans said Kennedy emerged unscathed after what they viewed as a pile-on of attacks by Democratic senators. If Democrats vote in a block against Kennedy, he can only lose four Republican votes and still win confirmation.
There had been some opposition to his nomination from conservatives, notably former Vice President Mike Pence, over Kennedy's support for abortion rights. Under close watch was Republican Sen. James Lankford, a Republican of Oklahoma who opposes abortion.
He and Kennedy have had “some disagreement on the issue of life,” Lankford said, but Kennedy assured him repeatedly he would follow Trump's lead on the issue.
Abortion was a flashpoint for Democrats, however, who zeroed in on his plans around the abortion pill. Kennedy said Trump has asked him to study the safety of the medication, which anti-abortion advocates have lobbied to be further restricted. Democrats countered that the drug has been studied for a quarter-century.
Kennedy said he wants to use the National Institutes of Health to conduct more research on food additives, and he would work closely with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to take a look at the federally-funded school lunch program as well as food assistance for the poor.
But he promised not to ban certain foods. His boss, after all, would be unhappy if he did.
“I don’t want to take food away from anybody,” he said. “If you like a cheeseburger — a McDonald’s cheeseburger and a diet Coke like my boss — you should be able to get them.”
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Associated Press writers Stephen Groves and Matthew Perrone contributed.
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