Robert F. Kennedy Jr.President Trump’s controversial choice To direct the Federal Department of Health and Human ServicesIt will appear on Wednesday against a panel of the Senate that is crucial to advance in its nomination.
Kennedy is due to appear first In the Senate Finance Committee, the panel that will finally be the committee with the decisive vote on whether its nomination is the next Secretary of Health and Human Services that advances to the entire Senate. The majority of senators must receive to be confirmed to direct the HHS, which covers federal US health agencies.
The committee jurisdiction To a large extent it focuses on the gigantic health insurance programs of Medicare and Medicaid of the department for the elderly and low -income of low income, which constitute the majority of Mandatory expense In the federal budget.
It will be directed together with the Senate Health, Work, Labor and Pensions Committee, or Help, which is programmed to question Kennedy Thursday.
That committee focus It includes the centers for disease control and prevention, food and medicines administration and national health institutes, all agencies that would be under Kennedy’s authority if it is confirmed that it directs the department.
Trump’s teams Directing all these agencies must also face their own confirmation audiences of the Senate. While some have expressed different opinions of him in the past, Kennedy could have a wide authority to cancel them as secretary.
What is the “Make America Again Again” agenda by RFK Jr.?
This week’s audience will offer the wide “Make America Again Again” by Kennedy. agenda In many weeks, after Kennedy and other nominees withdrew from public appearances and publications on social networks.
The advisors have curled up with Kennedy for months behind the closed doors, they say multiple advisors, so that and if they implement dramatic changes that have sought to the federal government health bureaucracy.
Kennedy’s supporters say many of his positions, how to question ultraprocessed foods and the risks of synthetic food additives and dyesThey have affected a wide appeal between both Republicans and some Democrats That could boost your chances of clearing the Senate.
Through the FDA, Kennedy could exercise substantial authority about how foods are regulated, labeled and recommended For the federal government.
But Kennedy also faces criticism from both sides of the hall, establishing a confirmation battle that multiple allies say that he has recognized in private will be a fighter uphill.
His assistants face growing critications about an apartment throughout the department “pause” communications That has hindered launches in health agencies, which is scheduled to end in the days after Kennedy’s confirmation audiences.
What is the position of RFK Jr. about the rights of abortion?
Conservative groups also have Divided status On the nomination of Kennedy, and some criticized their past statements expressing support for abortion rights.
The problem is expected to be a great focus of Kennedy’s audiences: as secretary, he would have authority on how the FDA regulates the medications used for abortions.
Kennedy has assured the conservative groups and legislators that it is due to the promise of Trump campaign path postpone the problem to the states.
But Kennedy and the Trump administration will have little space to avoid the problem, given a Federal Court in progress Case against the FDA. The conservatives have called The FDA of the Trump administration to make movements backward since 2016 to relieve access to abortion pills.
The FDA’s decision to relieve the so -called risk assessment and mitigation strategies or REMS restrictions in the abortive pill Mifepristone were the focus of a Supreme Court case last year That ended in defeat for abortion opponents.
“Walking back to Rems has significantly increased security risks for women. And, therefore, from our perspective, as indicated by the administration, we believe that an HHS RFK has the ability to lead the FDA to review the Safety, “said John Mize, CEO of Americans attached for life.
Mize group has requested The FDA “urges the restoration of basic security measures”, while additional data is collected on their risks. He quoted the death of Amber Thurman in a high profile case that was news last year After a drug abortion.
“I have seen this RFK in the past, which is absolutely focused on the safety of pharmaceutical products. And this gives us a very good opportunity to expose a security problem,” Mize said.
FDA officials They have defended Your decision to relieve restrictions, saying that multiple reviews of the agency staff support the security of relieving the limits of when during pregnancy the pills can be taken and allowing pharmacies of orders by mail and retailers to dispense the medications.
What is RFK Jr. posture about vaccines?
Many Democrats, Non -profit organizations And health experts have also criticized Kennedy for their deceptive registration and unfounded health claimsIn addition to his work and his allies that oppose the approvals and authorizations of a variety of vaccines, including COVID-19 and polio shots.
Kennedy has tried to calm the concerns that he would change vaccines Using your authoritypromising in the days after the elections of not prohibiting any take.
In his government Ethics AgreementKennedy also promises for a year not to intervene in any matter that involves a non -profit organization that presided over, the defense of children’s health, which has fought against federal agencies for the authorizations and requirements of vaccines.
“They are not interested in validating the press of the press that Bobby will enter and make radical changes in vaccine policy. That will be a bit of political suicide at this time,” said Dr. Robert Malone, a nearby ally of Kennedy who has fiercely opposed the HRNM COVID-19 vaccines, he told CBS News.
Senator Bill Cassidy, doctor and head of the Senate Health Committee, saying He had “a frank conversation” about “vaccines finally” with Kennedy after expressing concern for his past statements.
The official of the main vaccines of the FDA has also Expressed optimism that could find a common land with Kennedy on vaccines.
“This is how the sausage is done. And you know, it’s not always beautiful and it’s not always what you want, but I’m really encouraged to see Bobby being pragmatic about political realities here,” said Malone.
Who is RFK JR?
When Kennedy first announced his campaign as a democratic presidential candidate In April 2023He promoted his record of decades as an environmental lawyer.
Kennedy, whose father, Robert F. Kennedy, was murdered During his presidential campaign of 1968 – says He did not want to immediately enter politics, and instead “continued with the legacy of his family devoting himself to the environmental causes and well -being of children.”
That continued A fight With substance abuse when he was younger, which, according to him, covered 14 years after he began to use heroin at age 15.
Kennedy arrived at the headlines for his environmental work was as a founder and president of the non -profit organization Waterkeeper Alliance of the 1980s Until 2020ranging from local efforts to Clean the Hudson River to Campaign against a pipeline in North Dakota.
What Kennedy has described as his “entry reluctant to vaccine debate” dates back to 2005, when he wrote a article In Rolling Stone, exploring alleged evidence of a link between autism and an ingredient that had previously been used in some vaccines. The article contained numerous scientific and objective errors and finally retracted. Decades of research have established that there is no such link.
In 2016, Kennedy joined a non -profit organization centered on mercury, which then extended his approach and renamed the defense of children’s health. Kennedy presided over the group and served as one of its strongest voices that raised doubts about vaccines and fight against the requirements and approvals of the vaccine.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, they faced federal health agencies on the use of Ivermectin and the federal mask mandate on trips. In 2021, the FDA He denied his request asking to revoke everything Vaccine for COVID-19 Authorizations and prohibition studies for children’s shots.
As a candidate, Kennedy continued to say that he thought that vaccines, as well as the “toxic soup that came mainly from their food” was the fault of the growing autism rates and other chronic diseases in American children. Experts They have attributed The global increase in the prevalence of autism in part to a broader consciousness and changes in how disorder is classified and diagnosed.
Kennedy’s long commitment to challenge President Joe Biden in the Democratic primaries ended in October 2023When he changed his campaign to an independent presidential offer. Left the campaign and supported Mr. Trump In August 2024.