RFK Jr. faces Senate grilling today

Politico

29-01-2025

Presented by The Pharmaceutical Reform Alliance
Driving The Day
ASKING MR. KENNEDY — Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will face his first vetting by lawmakers this morning when Senate Finance Committee members are sure to ask about his past comments on vaccines, federal health agency reform and abortion.
It marks the first public opportunity for senators to probe whether he can run the sprawling federal health department, responsible for 80,000 employees and 13 supporting agencies. Kennedy has already privately met with most of the committee.
Still, Kennedy's confirmation hearing for HHS secretary is expected to be uncomfortable for both parties, given the nominee's storied name, Democratic roots, history of spreading misinformation and troublesome headlines that include sexual assault allegations, affairs and potential mishandling of wildlife.
It also comes amid a flurry of campaigns and letters for and against Kennedy's nomination by doctors, patient advocacy groups, a former vice president's conservative group and his family members.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who hails from Kennedy's home state, has already sent the nominee a list of 175 questions and called his views on vaccine safety and public health 'dangerous.' Meanwhile, several public health leaders and experts told POLITICO's Joanne Kenen they want to hear Kennedy's views on treatment for people with substance use disorders, Medicaid work requirements, block grants and the so-called germ theory of disease.
Here are some lines of questioning we can expect today:
On vaccines: Kennedy, who recently stepped down from the board of the anti-vaccine activist group Children's Health Defense, has sown doubts about vaccines, repeated false claims that vaccines cause autism and suggested that the polio vaccine might have killed more people than polio itself. Financial disclosures made public last week also reveal that Kennedy could stand to gain from his lawsuit challenging Merck's Gardasil vaccine, which prevents nine strains of HPV.
Democrats will likely question and rebuke Kennedy on those views. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) told MSNBC recently he plans to come to the hearing with 'the receipts.'
It's also possible that some Republicans — including Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), a gastroenterologist who has previously said Kennedy was 'wrong' on vaccines — could jump in with their own questions. However, Republicans could instead seek to publicly affirm what Kennedy has been telling them: He isn't against vaccines but is 'pro-vaccine safety,' as Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) told reporters.
On abortion: Kennedy's past support for abortion rights — which a conservative group founded by former Vice President Mike Pence has cited in their condemnation of his nomination — could come up. Still, some pro-life Republicans, including Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), say they've had their concerns about Kennedy's prior abortion support assuaged after meeting with him.
On federal health reform: Kennedy's plans to overhaul health agencies — including his threat to fire officials at the FDA and the NIH who resist reform — are likely to be called into question. If Kennedy were to pursue even a fraction of the policy agenda he espoused as an activist, it would upend HHS and the public health system.
He also might be questioned on how he'd change the FDA's drug approval process, which he's criticized for rejecting unproven therapies, including ivermectin for Covid-19.
On his personal life: Sexual assault allegations — and admissions that he dumped a dead bear in Central Park and that the National Marine Fisheries Service was investigating him for cutting off a whale's head and driving it home three decades ago — could also come up.
WELCOME TO WEDNESDAY PULSE. Our team is covering Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s confirmation hearings today and tomorrow, including your host, FDA reporter Lauren Gardner, who's helping with Pulse today. Please send your tips, scoops and feedback to [e-mail] or [e-mail] and follow along @Gardner_LM and @ChelseaCirruzzo.
AROUND THE AGENCIES
MEDICAID MESS — Medicaid funding that typically flows from the federal government to states was frozen Tuesday due to a nationwide payment processing system outage, POLITICO's Robert King and Kelly Hooper report.
Democratic lawmakers pinned the problem on President Donald Trump's orders freezing federal spending — including a late-Monday order pausing 'all federal financial assistance' save for Medicare and Social Security — while the administration reviews spending for any programs that defy the president's agenda.
Officials from several states — including Florida, Georgia, Illinois and Massachusetts — said they had unsuccessfully tried to access federal Medicaid payments.
The White House dismissed confusion around the order's scope, with press secretary Karoline Leavitt declining to directly say during a press briefing whether social service programs that serve people indirectly — such as Meals on Wheels and Medicaid — would be affected, POLITICO's Adam Cancryn and Myah Ward report.
In a follow-up memorandum Tuesday, the Office of Management and Budget clarified that Medicaid should not be affected.
'We have confirmed no payments have been affected — they are still being processed and sent,' Leavitt posted on X later Tuesday afternoon. 'We expect the portal will be back online shortly.'
Public Health
BIRD FLU FEARS — Public health experts and former government officials worry that President Donald Trump could face another pandemic — and wouldn't be as prepared to address it — as avian influenza continues to spread in the U.S., Lauren writes with her colleagues David Lim and Marcia Brown.
The virus killed the first person in the U.S. earlier this month and has infected 67 confirmed patients. While the disease isn't spreading among people, one mutation could change that.
Biden administration critics say it didn't take some steps they believe would help stem the spread, such as vaccinating farmworkers against bird flu.
Not so easy: But the president's options are limited, given economic and political considerations. Any effort to mitigate the chances of a viral mutation — like inducing farms to kill sick cattle as they already do with poultry — would be costly to another corner of the president's base. And a vaccination push would require buy-in from the farm community, whose workers are already wary of Trump's hard-line posture on immigration.
Another complicating factor is the vaccine-skeptical views held by Trump nominees who, if confirmed, would be responsible for steering an avian flu pandemic response: Robert F Kennedy Jr. and Dr. Dave Weldon, a former Florida congressman tapped to lead the CDC.
To be sure: If bird flu became a communicable disease among humans, Republicans could be well positioned to allay fears about a medical response like a vaccine given the Trump administration's stature in the agriculture industry, said Niki Carelli, executive director of the Coalition to Stop Flu and a lobbyist with The Daschle Group.
In Congress
THE KENNEDY PEANUT GALLERY — A smattering of big names and institutions weighed in Tuesday on Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s HHS nomination, the splashiest of which was his cousin's scathing rebuke of his qualifications for the role.
Caroline Kennedy, in a letter first reported by The Washington Post and then read aloud by the former ambassador on X, called her cousin a 'predator' who 'is addicted to attention and power.' She accused him of victimizing parents with sick children and spreading vaccine misinformation despite immunizing his own children, Chelsea writes.
She also alleged that he pulled other family members into substance use.
Meanwhile, another Kennedy cousin — former Democratic Rep. Patrick Kennedy — supported Kennedy Jr.'s nomination in a letter to the editor in The Washington Post.
Patrick Kennedy wrote that his cousin was supportive of his journey toward sobriety.
'On addiction policy, I believe he is the leader we need to meet this moment,' he wrote.
Not to be outdone: Editorial boards at two publications owned by the Murdoch family — The Wall Street Journal and New York Post — denounced Kennedy Jr.'s nomination as HHS secretary, POLITICO's Amanda Friedman reports.
Names in the News
Rich Rieger has joined consulting firm Berkeley Research Group's health analytics practice as a managing director in Chicago, where he'll advise pharma and biotech companies. He's previously held positions at Baxter, Horizon Therapeutics and AbbVie.
WHAT WE'RE READING
President Donald Trump issued an executive order Tuesday ordering the federal government to stop paying for gender-affirming care for people under 19, POLITICO's Daniel Payne reports.
The Trump administration has moved to stop supplying drugs for HIV, malaria and tuberculosis to countries supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development as part of a wider funding freeze, Reuters reports, citing a memo and sources.
The FDA has approved Novo Nordisk's Ozempic to treat chronic kidney disease in people with type 2 diabetes, Bloomberg reports.