On Day 1, Smith calls Kennedy and Trump “dangerous to mifepristone”
Sen. Tina Smith, a Democrat from Minnesota, used part of her time during Wednesday’s hearing to revisit Kennedy’s stance on abortion, saying the answers he has given to the committee during his confirmation hearing indicate to her that the Trump administration “is more than willing to restrict or even ban medication abortion without a single act of Congress.”
“What is clear to me is that you and President Trump are dangerous to mifepristone,” Smith argued.
Smith went on to question Kennedy about his views on antidepressants, known as SSRIs.
After first day’s hearing, committee chair says Kennedy “deserves to be confirmed”
Finance Committee Chairman Sen. Mike Crapo, a Republican from Idaho, wrapped up Wednesday’s hearing a little after 1:30 p.m., after more than three hours of questioning. He thanked RFK Jr. for the hours he spent outside of the hearing answering senators’ questions, saying he endured “the most thorough vetting process that any committee in this Congress puts anybody through.”
“I think that you have come through well and deserve to be confirmed,” Crapo said.
On Day 1, Kennedy is asked if health care is a human right: “I can’t give you a yes or no answer to that question”
During Wednesday’s hearing, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, an independent who caucuses with Democrat, said he strongly agrees with Kennedy’s efforts to make America healthy again, and then, he he proceeded to ask him for a “yes” or “no” answer on universal health care.
“Do you agree with me that the United States should join every other major country on Earth and guarantee health care to all people as a human right?” Sanders asked.
“Senator, I can’t give you a yes or no answer to that question,” Kennedy said.
“In the way that free speech is a right,” he asked. “I would say it’s different, because with free speech, doesn’t cost anybody anything, but in health care, if you smoke cigarettes for 20 years and you get cancer, you are now taking from the poor.”
On Day 1, Bennet tells RFK Jr. “This is a job that is life or death” and it’s “too important for the games you’re playing”
During Wednesday’s hearing, Sen. Michael Bennet, Democrat of Colorado, grilled Kennedy on statements he’s made in the past on several controversial topics, including COVID-19 and abortion — and reminded him of the weight of the job for which he’s been nominated.
“It doesn’t matter what you come here and say,” Bennet said. “That’s not reflective of what you really believe… Because unlike other jobs we’re confirming around this place, this is a job where it is life and death for the kids that I used to work for in the Denver Public School, and for families all over this country that are suffering from living in the richest country in the world that can’t deliver basic health care and basic mental health care to them.”
“It’s too important for the games you’re playing,” he told Kennedy.
Bennet said, “Out of 330 million Americans, we’re being asked to put somebody in this job who has spent 50 years of his life … peddling in half-truths, peddling in false statements, peddling in theories that create doubt about whether or not things we know are safe are unsafe.”
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