Robert F. Kennedy Jr. met with a number of senators on Capitol Hill this week, striving to realize sufficient votes to be confirmed as Secretary of Well being and Human Companies in January.
The HHS manages 13 businesses, together with the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention (CDC), the Meals and Drug Administration (FDA), and the Nationwide Institutes of Well being (NIH).
Outdoors of Washington, supporters of the previous Democrat and impartial presidential candidate are concerned in a widespread grassroots effort to see that Kennedy will get an opportunity to implement his Make America Wholesome Once more platform.
“Help for RFK Jr. displays a widespread discontent with the established order—a frustration that transcends occasion strains and political affiliations,” Sayer Ji, founding father of GreenMedInfo.com and cofounder of Stand For Well being Freedom, informed The Epoch Occasions.
“America’s well being insurance policies usually set a precedent for the world. If RFK Jr. can lead a transformative shift right here, the ripple impact on international well being care techniques may very well be profound—fostering a renewed belief within the relationship between governments and their residents,” Ji stated.
The group has a concurrent petition that opposes President-elect Donald Trump’s nomination of Janette Nesheiwat as U.S. Surgeon Normal, which notes she “publicly supported censorship throughout a world-wide well being emergency.”
In August, Kennedy ended his White Home bid and threw his assist behind Trump, who final month nominated him to function HHS secretary.
In January, Kennedy will seem at affirmation hearings with the Senate Finance Committee, which oversees the HHS and is scheduled to be led by Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho).
If the panel approves Kennedy, the total Senate will vote on his nomination. Senate Republicans can have a 53–47 voting majority over Democrats and independents who caucus with them.
The potential for Kennedy turning into HHS secretary has drawn widespread criticism, too.
Peter G. Lurie, president of the Middle for Science within the Public Curiosity, stated in an announcement that the middle “opposes this nomination and some other nominees who’re a direct risk to science and evidence-based options.”
“Nominating an anti-vaxxer like Kennedy to HHS is like placing a Flat Earther on the head of NASA,” he wrote.
Robert Weissman, co-president of Public Citizen, stated in an announcement that Kennedy “is a transparent and current hazard to the nation’s well being” and shouldn’t be “positioned answerable for the nation’s public well being company.”
A number of Democrat lawmakers have echoed Lurie and Weissmann, calling Kennedy “harmful” and an “anti-vaxxer.”
Shield Our Care, a progressive advocacy group, introduced on Dec. 16 that its “Cease RFK Conflict Room” effort is debuting a multi-media marketing campaign throughout a number of states urging senators to oppose Kennedy’s nomination.
The group stated its focused senators embody Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Invoice Cassidy (R-La.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), John Curtis (R-Utah), Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), and Sen.-elect Jim Justice (R-W.Va.).
The marketing campaign contains paid ads and 18 billboards in seven states.
“RFK Jr. doesn’t have the expertise and abilities to run main well being care packages like Medicare and Medicaid that over 125 million People depend on for his or her well being care.”
Kennedy “desires to decimate funding for analysis into therapies and cures,” Woodhouse stated.
“His beliefs may result in a lethal resurgence of preventable childhood sicknesses like polio and measles.”
In the meantime, Kennedy has obtained public assist from a number of Republican senators.
Earlier this week, the congressional Make America Wholesome Once more (MAHA) caucus was fashioned by a bunch of lawmakers.
Sens. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), and Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) are the founding members.
The aim of the caucus, in accordance with an announcement, is to domesticate partnerships with officers on the native, state, and federal ranges who’re desirous about MAHA initiatives.
Different aims embody establishing instructional campaigns to advertise dietary consciousness and more healthy existence, addressing power illnesses, and rising entry to reasonably priced, nutrition-rich meals.
Greater than 800 medical professionals have to this point signed an open letter asking senators to substantiate Kennedy, in an effort by a bunch known as MAHA Motion.
“The traditional approaches of the previous have didn’t reverse our declining well being outcomes,” the letter reads.
“Within the early Eighties, fewer than 13 p.c of U.S. kids suffered from a power situation. At the moment, that determine has soared to almost 60 p.c,” it states.
“Power illness and psychological well being now account for 90 p.c of the nation’s $4.3 trillion in annual well being care expenditures. These tendencies will not be simply unsustainable—they’re existential.”
Kennedy’s “unwavering dedication to scientific transparency and his dedication to deal with the foundation causes of sickness make him uniquely certified to guide HHS,” in accordance with the letter.
Leaders of grassroots organizations informed The Epoch Occasions that the make-up of the new-look Senate was encouraging for Kennedy supporters, however there is no such thing as a assure that he’ll get 51 votes.
“Leaving RFK Jr.’s affirmation to legislators and political advisers alone would miss the transformative alternative this motion represents,” Ji informed The Epoch Occasions.
“This nomination is about reimagining a well being care system that’s accountable to the folks. For that to occur, the folks themselves should form this course of.”
Jeff Hutt is the outreach director for the Make America Wholesome Once more PAC and a former nationwide discipline director for Kennedy’s presidential marketing campaign.
Hutt informed The Epoch Occasions on Dec. 16 that the PAC, which was fashioned in September, has shifted its focus to serving to Kennedy achieve affirmation.
“The Kennedy marketing campaign was a motion, and never only a typical political marketing campaign. Trump is giving Kennedy a place the place he may be simplest, and his supporters need to see that,” Hutt stated.
The MAHA PAC in 2025 will consider supporting candidates on the state and native ranges who embrace the MAHA platform, Hutt stated.
Till then, it’s “serving to lead the motion to let senators know why he [Kennedy] ought to lead the HHS.”
Mississippi Mother and father for Vaccine Rights has urged its state’s senators—Republicans Roger Wicker and Cindy Hyde-Smith—to assist Kennedy’s affirmation.
President of the group, MaryJo Perry stated she want to see the CDC’s vaccine schedule addressed and that pharmaceutical firms be held liable if their merchandise injure recipients.
Signed by President Ronald Reagan, the Nationwide Childhood Vaccine Damage Act of 1986 offered immunity from legal responsibility to vaccine producers over vaccine harm claims.
“[Kennedy] is closely opposed by Large Pharma as a result of he’s a risk to their large, highly effective machine. That machine desires to maintain its energy so it would spend as a lot cash and attempt to exert as a lot affect as potential for elected officers,” Perry informed The Epoch Occasions.
“We now have to make extra noise so our elected officers know we will all the time unelect them in the event that they don’t assist what their constituents need,” she stated.
Perry praised Kennedy for making the choice to depart the presidential race and again Trump in August. She believes that transfer helped Trump win some states.
“Now these supporters are talking as much as let senators know they need him to be Secretary of Well being and Human Companies,” Perry stated.
“Many elected officers danger dropping future assist from medical freedom voters if that doesn’t occur.”
