Kennedy appeared before a Senate committee for the second consecutive day regarding his nomination for secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.
In a fiery exchange with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Jan. 30, President Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Robert F. Kennedy Jr. chastised the lawmaker for accepting money from pharmaceutical companies.
Sanders is the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) ranking member.
On Jan. 30, Kennedy answered questions from the panel after appearing before the Senate Committee on Finance for his first confirmation hearing on Jan. 29.
During the exchange, Sanders said that the United States’ health care system is “broken” due to “some of the reasons that Kennedy indicated,” which include chronic disease and life expectancy in the United States that is lower than that of countries “far poorer than we are.”
Sanders asked Kennedy if, as HHS secretary, he would guarantee health care coverage to “every single American.”
Kennedy replied that he intends to “make America healthier than other countries in the world.”
“Right now, we’re the sickest.”
He went on to suggest that Sanders and other members of the committee were allowing their financial interests to influence their positions on public health policy.
“You know, the problem of corruption is not just in the federal agencies. It’s in Congress too,” Kennedy said. “Almost all the members of this panel are accepting—including yourself—are accepting millions of dollars from the pharmaceutical industry, protecting their interests.”
Sanders denied the accusation.
“I ran for president like you,“ Sanders said. “I got millions of contributions. They did not come from the executives.” He said that the donations came from workers and that “not one nickel of PAC money” from the pharmaceutical industry helped fund his campaign.
In 2020, Sanders ran for the Democratic presidential nomination that was ultimately secured by now-former President Joe Biden.
Kennedy noted that Sanders was the single largest recipient in Congress of pharmaceutical financial support in 2020.
Sanders denied this and then told Kennedy, “You have not answered my last question.”
According to Open Secrets, from 2019 to 2020, Sanders received more money from pharmaceuticals and health products than any other senator, receiving $1,417,633.
Earlier in the hearing, Kennedy addressed the conflict of interests for lawmakers receiving donations from pharmaceutical companies.
Many of the senators “who are defending the current system” are taking “huge amounts of money from the pharmaceutical industry—millions of dollars for many of these senators,” Kennedy said.
“This is not making our country healthier,” he said. “It’s making us sicker. We need to get rid of these conflicts. We need good science and we need good leadership that is able to stand up to these big industries and not bend over for them.”
In his opening statement, Kennedy extended his condolences to those who were killed in the air disaster in Washington on Jan. 29.
He said that Trump “understands that we can’t be a strong nation” unless there are healthy U.S. citizens. Kennedy said that “over half of our country” is chronically ill today.
“I promise President Trump, that, if confirmed, I will do everything in my power to put the health of America back on track,” Kennedy said.
Reiterating his comments before the Senate Committee on Finance on Jan. 29, Kennedy told committee members that he is “pro-safety” and “pro-good science” regarding vaccines.
“I worked for 40 years to raise awareness about mercury and other toxins in fish, and nobody called me anti-fish,“ he said. “All my kids are vaccinated. I believe vaccines have saved millions of lives and play a critical role in health care.”
Kennedy ran for president as a Democrat and then an independent before ending his White House bid and backing Trump in August 2024.
Fighting chronic disease, improving children’s health, and addressing corporate influence on government agencies have been vital parts of Kennedy’s platform.
If confirmed, he would head a department that manages 13 agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and the National Institutes of Health.
The Senate Committee on Finance will vote on whether to advance him to a full Senate floor vote.
To become HHS secretary, Kennedy must get a simple majority to gain confirmation. Republicans hold a 53–47 majority in the chamber.
As they did on Jan. 29 when Kennedy appeared before the Senate Committee on Finance, multiple Democrats on the HELP panel asked questions and left little time for the nominee to answer and frequently interrupted his responses.
Democrats and Republicans repeatedly pressed Kennedy about his plans related to abortion.
Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) asked the nominee if he would appoint “pro-life” deputies, to which Kennedy said he would.
Kennedy said that, as HHS secretary, he would support Trump’s policies.
The topic of vaccines was prominent throughout the hearing.
Kennedy said that vaccines serve an important role in health care. He said that people who report side effects should not be dismissed, and “the gold standard” of research should be applied to vaccines.
Democrats derided Kennedy for what they deemed as “dangerous” stances and comments about vaccine efficacy.
The nominee also received skepticism from Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), the HELP chairman who is also a physician.
“Whether it’s justified or not, I have constituents who partly credit you for their decision to not vaccinate their child,” Cassidy told Kennedy before sharing a story about an 18-year-old woman who experienced liver failure because of a hepatitis infection.
“It was the worst day of my medical career because I thought $50 of vaccines could have prevented this all,” Cassidy said.
Cassidy then asked Kennedy if he would reassure parents that the Hepatitis B and measles vaccines do not cause autism.
“If the data is there, I will absolutely do that,” Kennedy said, adding that he would personally apologize if studies showed vaccines do not cause autism.
Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) shared a personal account of how she has spent decades wondering what caused her 36-year-old son’s cerebral palsy.
She said that she questioned whether vaccines contributed to her son’s condition until reading a study that claimed there is no link between autism and vaccines.
Hassan said Kennedy’s comments that vaccines could cause autism were harming families.
“He is re-litigating and churning settled science so we can’t go forward and find out what the cause of autism is and treat these kids and help these families,” Hassan said.
“When you continue to sow doubt about settled science, it makes it impossible for us to move forward.”
Kennedy has said for years that autism is likely tied to childhood vaccines and that there is no concrete evidence disproving the claim.
In December 2024, Trump said that he would give Kennedy the freedom to investigate the potential link between vaccines and autism if the latter gained Senate confirmation to become HHS secretary.
Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) criticized Democrats on the panel for targeting Kennedy’s stance on vaccine safety.
“I don’t understand why my colleagues … say we can’t question science,” Mullin said.
If Kennedy was the HHS secretary nominee under former President Joe Biden, Mullin said, “I would bet you guys would have his back 100 percent, enjoy the fact that he’s questioned science, and would probably support his positions 100 percent.”
“If we didn’t question science, where would we be today?” Mullin asked.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), a vocal supporter of Kennedy, didn’t ask a question at the hearing and delivered an address backing the questioning of science.
“I think the discussion over vaccines is so oversimplified and dumbed down that we never really get to real truths,” Paul said.
There’s a belief in “submission” among lawmakers who believe there should be no discussion about vaccines, Paul said.
“There ought to be a debate. You’re not going to let him [Kennedy] have the debate because you’re just going to criticize and say it is this and admit to it, or we’re not going to appoint you,” Paul said.
“But it’s more complicated than that, and this is why people distrust government, because you’re unwilling to have these conversations.”
No other hearings are scheduled about Kennedy. He now awaits the Senate Committee on Finance’s decision on whether they will advance his nomination to the Senate floor for a full vote.
Samantha Flom contributed to this report.