Warren Presses RFK Jr. for Answers on His “Dangerous Views” Ahead of His Senate Nomination Hearing to Lead HHS

Warren Presses RFK Jr. for Answers on His "Dangerous Views" Ahead of His Senate Nomination Hearing to Lead HHS

Warren's 34-Page Letter Contains 175 Questions; Senator Will Question RFK Jr. at Upcoming Hearing

"Given your dangerous views on vaccine safety and public health… I have serious concerns regarding your ability to oversee the Department"

Text of Letter (PDF)

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a member of the Senate Finance Committee, sent Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary-Nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. a 34-page letter detailing her concerns with his nomination. She asked RFK Jr. to answer 175 questions ahead of his committee nomination hearing before the Finance Committee.

"Given your dangerous views on vaccine safety and public health, including your baseless opposition to vaccines, and your inconsistent statements in important policy areas like reproductive rights access, I have serious concerns regarding your ability to oversee the Department," wrote Senator Warren.

Senator Warren's questions fell into the following categories:

1. RFK's dangerous views on vaccines. Dubbed "the ringleader of the misinformation campaign" who "turbocharged" anti-vaccine rhetoric during the Covid-19 pandemic, RFK has spread false hysteria that vaccines cause autism, compared COVID public health mandates to the Holocaust, , peddled conspiracy theories that coronavirus vaccines were an effort to harm Black communities, and influenced a measles outbreak in Samoa that killed 83 people.
   
   "(Y)our blatant disavowal of vaccine safety would wipe away this progress and put American lives in danger if you are confirmed as HHS Secretary," wrote Senator Warren. " I am deeply concerned that you could influence the vaccine approval and recommendation process by putting vaccine skeptics on advisory committees and make life-saving vaccines less accessible to American families"
   
   
2. RFK's inconsistent views on reproductive rights, which have become increasingly extreme. Despite his past statements that "it is always the woman's right to choose" and that he supported codifying Roe v. Wade, last month, RFK told GOP Senators that he was "open" to reinstating restrictions to the abortion pill mifepristone and is going to do "whatever President Trump wants to do" with respect to abortion rights.
   
   "Your record on women's reproductive freedom and health has been inconsistent, raising questions about how you will fulfill the mission of HHS with respect to women's reproductive health if confirmed as Secretary of HHS," wrote Senator Warren. "Indeed, you have flip-flopped on the issue of women's reproductive rights for years, making it difficult for Americans to know your true views on this topic.
   
   
3. RFK's involvement as the face of the Children's Health Defense, a nonprofit activist group leading the anti-vaccination movement in America.
   
   
4. RFK's baseless conspiracies about public health and medicine. RFK Jr. has amplified several concerning conspiracy theories throughout the years that deny science and fact.
   
   
5. RFK's advocacy for the swift defunding and reorganization of several agencies under HHS, particularly the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). He has claimed that the CDC is a "cesspool of corruption," that harms children similar to "Nazi death camps."
   
   
6. RFK's advocacy to gut the National Institute of Health (NIH), which works to prevent disease and improve health. RFK has publicly stated that he plans to "give infectious disease a break for about eight years" and immediately replace 600 NIH employees on January 20th.
   
   
7. RFK's perspective on food safety, including concerns about RFK's dangerous critiques of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regarding its "aggressive suppression" of products such as raw milk, but also areas where Senator Warren may agree with him on food safety reform.
   
   
8. RFK's encouraging views on drug pricing, which include supporting the government's authority to negotiate prices with Big Pharma and "cap drug prices so that companies can't charge Americans substantially more than Europeans pay." RFK has also been outspoken in criticizing the pharmaceutical industry and its prioritization of profits at the expense of human health.
   
   "Despite your tendency to flip flop on issues, I am encouraged by your previous advocacy to lower U.S. prescription drug costs, which are nearly three times higher compared to other advanced economies," wrote Senator Warren.
   
   
9. RFK's approach to Medicare and Medicaid, especially given the risk of Republican proposals to cut Medicaid in order to pay for proposed tax cuts to ultra-wealthy individuals and large corporations.
   
   
10. RFK's potential role in following through on President-Elect Trump's efforts to gut the Affordable Care Act (ACA), given that he will likely be pressured by President-Elect Trump and members of his party to support legislative efforts to roll back the ACA and use his administrative authority to do so.
    
    
11. RFK's encouraging views on physician payments, including his publicly-stated plans to create an in-house process conducted by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to set physician payment rates, which currently overvalue high-cost specialists at the expense of primary care providers.
    
    
12. RFK's views on nursing home staffing standards, especially with respect to the Medicare and Medicaid nursing home staffing rule -which will save 13,000 lives per year-but is facing opposition from for-profit nursing homes and Republicans who are trying to overturn it to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy and large corporations.
    
    
13. RFK's views on how to address substance abuse, opioids, and marijuana legalization.

"HHS' programs and services impact the lives of millions of Americans every day. The agency deserves a strong and capable leader who protects the health of all Americans and provides essential human services," concluded the senator. "The leader of HHS must be a strong believer in the scientific process, and their core mission must be protecting American lives, rather than flouting baseless theories or stripping away rights that put those very lives at risk."

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