Undergirding the heightened scrutiny was a call for Kennedy’s resignation from more than 20 medical societies and organizations.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was at the center of a maelstrom Thursday as senator after senator, including those who voted to confirm him, raised pressing questions over his public health agenda.
Tension was thick at the Senate Finance Committee hearing. Crosstalk and shouting ensued as senators, some of them doctors, demanded explanations for Kennedy’s controversial actions in his first eight months as the nation’s top health official.
Among them: High-profile resignations and firings at agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A changing U.S. vaccine policy that would limit access for some Americans as the country heads into peak respiratory illness season. Replacing a key panel of medical experts with hand-picked candidates with anti-vaccine stances.
Multiple senators grilled Kennedy over contradictory statements, especially about vaccines and the national COVID response. A few asked him to resign. Kennedy, defiant and at times dismissive, objected to their characterizations of his decisions.
“This is crazy talk. You’re just making stuff up,” Kennedy said as Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., questioned him about the new restrictions on COVID shots.
“Sometimes when you make an accusation, it’s kind of a confession, Mr. Kennedy,” Hassan said. Kennedy laughed.
Undergirding the heightened scrutiny was a call for Kennedy’s resignation from more than 20 medical societies and organizations, and a column from former CDC Director Susan Monarez, who wrote in The Wall Street Journal that her firing last week was part of a “deliberate effort to weaken America’s public-health system and vaccine protections.”
Here are four big moments from the hearing.
Kennedy Blasts CDC Response to COVID
Disagreements over Data and Science
Two Republicans Doctors Were Measured in Their Criticism
Kennedy Accuses Ousted CDC Director of ‘Lying’
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