If you thought the Pete Hegseth confirmation battle was worthwhile entertainment, wait until Democrats are calling Robert F. Kennedy Jr. a science denier and Tulsi Gabbard a Russian asset. Cue the fireworks.
Here’s the schedule of key Trump appointment confirmation hearings this week. RFK Jr. will appear over two days before two separate Senate committees starting on Wednesday. Gabbard and Patel will get their grilling on Thursday.
Wednesday (1/29)
- 10 am ET – Senate Finance Commmitee
- (Full Video) Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for Secretary of Health and Human Services
Thursday (1/30)
- 9:30 am ET – Senate Intelligence Committee
- (Watch Live) Kash Patel for Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
- 10 am ET – Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee
- (Watch Live) Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for Secretary of Health and Human Services
- 10 am ET – Senate Armed Services Committee
- (Watch Live) Tulsi Gabbard for Director of National Intelligence
Out of the three, perhaps the most high-profile will be that of RFK Jr. to lead HHS. It’s one of Trump’s most satisfying picks to head a government agency and will cause the most outrage in the entrenched DC swamp.
Kennedy’s detractors spend a lot of time putting him in a box of vaccine skepticism and calling him a conspiracy theorist over things like fluoride levels in public water systems. Those are straw-man arguments meant to belittle his concerns and try to paint him as some kind of extremist on so-called “settled” science that is anything but settled.
As Tristan Justice writes at the Federalist, Kennedy’s battle isn’t against partisan Washington, but a battle against the entrenched interests running the healthcare system and by extension controlling the very Senators asking the questions:
In a make-or-break moment for the movement to “make America healthy again,” Trump’s nominee to lead the crusade at HHS, environmental lawyer Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is scheduled to testify on Capitol Hill Wednesday and Thursday. Kennedy will appear before the Senate Finance Committee first, and the Health, Education Labor & Pensions Committee second.
“There are a series of industries that actually make money from keeping us sick,” Kennedy said in an interview with Dr. Phil last year, which the host re-shared this week. “You would think they want us healthy but they actually make more money if we get sicker. And of course, with the pharmaceutical companies, if you have a chronic illness then you’re a lifetime patient.”
On Wednesday, Kennedy will face his first round of questions before lawmakers on the Senate Finance Committee who’ve received roughly $7 million from drug companies between 2019 and 2024, according to a Federalist analysis of industry donations compiled by OpenSecrets. Members of the Senate Health Committee, who will question Kennedy Thursday, have received more than $5.6 million in contributions from the pharmaceutical industry, or nearly $4.4 million around a similar timespan once excluding Sens. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., Bill Cassidy, R-La., and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn, who also serve on the Finance Committee.
There’s an obvious conflict of interest when Senators questioning Kennedy over vaccines also accept money from pharmaceutical companies to fund their campaigns. That’s not to say they can’t ask fair, objective questions, but they do risk ticking off the largest lobbying operation in DC if they don’t toe the line for big pharma.
On the other hand, there’s a palpable shift happening because it’s blatantly obvious that America has a problem with chronic disease when compared to other developed nations. We are the most medicated and the most disease-ridden at the same time. Childhood obesity remains at alarming levels not seen in places like Europe and we should be asking why that is. We should also be asking why food sold in the United States is allowed to contain dozens of ingredients and chemicals that are banned in other countries due to concerns over health risks.
Gabbard and Patel will face difficult questions as well but for different reasons.
Still, the overriding fact that Americans voted for immense change in Washington should not be ignored by Republican Senators looking to grandstand for their own reasons. There shouldn’t be any doubt that at minimum, RFK, Gabbard, and Patel should at least be confirmed with party-line votes. All three are crucial components of Trump’s agenda, something the American people for in overwhelming numbers.
We will carry the confirmation hearings live over the next two days as they happen.
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