WASHINGTON – In a speech on the Senate floor, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) outlined his serious concerns with Robert F. Kenney, Jr., President Trump’s nominee to the lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). During his speech Durbin outlined why he opposes Mr. Kennedy’s nomination—pointing to the nominee’s long history of spewing harmful conspiracy theories about life-saving vaccines, the fact that he lacks a basic grasp of our health care system, and given that he approaches the job with an unacceptable bias.
“Our Founding Fathers created a government with checks and balances. What they did not anticipate is that Congress—now currently under Republican control—would voluntarily give away its Constitutional duties. But that’s where we find ourselves—as hospitals and medical researchers, in blue and red states, are in chaos over the Trump Administration’s attempt to usurp Congress’ ‘power of the purse.’ And when Senate Republicans abandon another constitutional responsibility of ‘advice and consent’ for cabinet officials, we are presented with [the] bizarre nomination of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to serve as Secretary of Health and Human Services,” said Durbin.
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“HHS is a life or death department of government. Every day, federal health officials decide whether to approve new medications after they are proven to be safe and effective [or] initiate a recall over a contaminated food. We count on that same agency to investigate new therapies for cancer clinical trials. We count on HHS to alert doctors about an emerging disease outbreak… In any of these tasks—critical often historic tasks—Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. would find himself unqualified, unfit, and dangerous to lead the Department of Health and Human Services,” Durbin continued.
Durbin then spoke about Mr. Kennedy’s anti-vaccine stance—in which Mr. Kennedy falsely claims vaccines are linked to autism.
“Mr. Kennedy has spent the past three decades ignoring the science and lying to parents about vaccines, all the while enriching himself by the doubt he has created,” Durbin said. “He has declared, ‘I see somebody on a hiking trail carrying a little baby and I say to him, better not get that baby vaccinated’… He has stated, ‘There’s no vaccine that is safe and effective’… The organization he founded sells newborn onesies declaring ‘Unvaxxed. Unafraid’ and ‘No Vax. No Problem.’”
During his confirmation hearing, Senator Bill Cassidy asked Mr. Kennedy to state unequivocally that the hepatitis B and measles vaccines do not cause autism and Mr. Kennedy failed to do so. When confronted during his hearings about false statements he has made linking vaccines to autism, he feigned ignorance to decades of research findings, and suggested he just needed to be shown the data—data which has been available for decades.
“Mr. Kennedy approaches this job with bias—a deadly, dangerous bias—and he is unwilling to consider information that contradicts his preconceived conspiracies,” Durbin said. “If Mr. Kennedy is confirmed, he won’t just be speaking to one parent on a hiking trail—he will be speaking to all American families from a podium with the U.S. government’s seal on it. That is a terrifying prospect.”
Since 1974, the measles vaccine has saved 94 million lives and since its creation, the smallpox vaccine has saved 200 million lives. Measles is one of the most contagious pathogens on earth. Yet, with Mr. Kennedy’s megaphone online, we are seeing the danger of conspiracy theories. Last year, a record share of kindergarteners across America had a non-medical exemption from vaccinations and right now, there is a measles outbreak tearing through Gaines County, Texas—with seven kids being hospitalized. They are all unvaccinated. Since 1955, the polio vaccine has prevented 20 million people from becoming paralyzed and saved 1.5 million lives.
“I remember it [Polio] as a kid, it scared the hell out of us. A kid could go to school healthy, and could be paralyzed at dinner time,” said Durbin. “A constituent of mine, Mary Ellen from Union County, wrote to me [and said], ‘When I was in kindergarten, my best friend disappeared for weeks. When I asked about her, people just shook their heads—saying polio. When she returned, she could not walk without heavy leg braces—we could hear her cry and scream with pain’… Mr. Kennedy and his associates have filed petitions with the FDA to remove the COVID, hepatitis B, and polio vaccines from the market.”
“But just because he [RFK Jr.] might talk about the right problems doesn’t mean Mr. Kennedy has the right solutions. In fact, over two days of hearings, he did not offer a single concrete idea on how to improve the delivery of primary care or preventive health care services. It was clear Mr. Kennedy didn’t understand the difference between Medicare and Medicaid… And nobody believes Mr. Kennedy will stand up to President Trump or Elon Musk’s assault on medical research. I understand the urge to ‘shake things up’ and address failures of our health care system, but Mr. Kennedy brings an unacceptable prejudice that will only cause harm and be dangerous to American families,” Durbin said.
Durbin concluded, “Make no mistake: if the political tables were turned—he would not get a single Republican vote in the Senate. He would be decried as a pro-choice, anti-vax, uninformed, conspiracy theorist who trades on his family’s name to peddle dangerous misinformation that benefits him financially. And guess what? This nominee is all of those things. But because he was nominated by President Trump, my Republican colleagues can’t wait to march down and support his nomination. Many of them know better. Some of them are doctors or parents themselves who trusted their pediatricians and vaccinated their kids or have spent their careers trying to improve our health care system. They know Mr. Kennedy is not the right choice for the job and they know our children will suffer the most if he becomes HHS Secretary. I hope they’ll find the courage to join me and reject his nomination.”
Duckworth Holds Senate Floor to Protest HHS Nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Underscores How RFK’s Extreme Views Would Endanger the Health of Millions of Middle-Class Americans
[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – On Wednesday, U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) joined Senate Democrats’ protest opposing Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination to serve as the Director of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under President Trump. In her remarks, Duckworth underscored just how unqualified Kennedy is for the job and how his long-held, well-established extreme views would put programs and services that millions of middle-class Americans rely on—like Medicaid—at risk. Video of Duckworth’s full speech can be found on the Senator’s YouTube, Twitter/X and Facebook.
Key quotes:
- “Next month will mark the five-year anniversary of when COVID shut down our nation. In this moment, it is dangerous, reckless and heartless to everyone who lost a loved one in the pandemic to even consider nominating a guy who has stated that, quote, ‘no vaccine is safe and effective.’ And if our HHS Secretary refuses to ensure children are protected against preventable-yet-deadly diseases—like measles, RSV, whooping cough or polio—it will be our kids, not Mr. Kennedy, who pay the price.”
- “The only reason Kennedy is even up for confirmation is because he, like Elon Musk, decided to throw his dignity to the wind and bow down at Trump’s altar. And because of that, he gets to be yet another rich guy with too few qualifications and too much power somehow now charged with leading our government… So why would any of us ever think that he’d have the courage to stand up to Trump if the President issues an order that actively harms everyday Americans? How could any of us actually believe that Kennedy would fight back against Trump’s worst instincts, when Kennedy has proven time and again that he believes more in sycophancy than science?”
- “Americans are going be the ones to suffer. Because now, with Kennedy’s confirmation, even programs as popular, effective and vital as Medicaid will be in even greater danger… Medicaid is a lifeline for kids, pregnant women, people in nursing homes and Americans with disabilities. But Republicans don’t seem to care about any of that. It’s obvious that Donald Trump has never stayed up late at night hunched over the kitchen table, with a calculator in one hand and a medical bill in the other, praying to figure out a way to afford his child’s insulin.”
- “To my colleagues on the other side of the aisle: I am sure many of you have faced health crises of your own. I’m sure many of you have had a parent who’s been sick or a nephew who’s been in a car crash, a spouse who’s needed an emergency C-section or a child who’s relied on an autoimmune injector. Imagine if your loved one hadn’t had care they could rely on in that moment. Then ask yourself how you can sleep soundly tonight if you vote to further the agenda of a couple rich guys who so clearly don’t care about making America healthy—they only care about tipping it even more in favor of the wealthy. They’re not bringing back the good ole days of Reagan. They’re just bringing back the days of dying from the measles. And they’re certainly not making America great again. They’re making America sick again. That’s the Trump-Kennedy promise.”
Duckworth’s opening remarks as prepared below:
You know, if you go back exactly 20 years ago today, I could tell you exactly where I was. I was in Walter Reed Medical Center. I was staring at the beige colored walls. And amidst the pain in every inch of my body, I was trying to muster the strength to sit up, or to take a step, or even just to take a breath.
I spent months and months and months in that room. Hooked up to machines, getting wheeled in and out of surgeries, learning how to live again in my new, post-shootdown world. But despite it all, looking back, I consider every one of those days in that hospital room lucky.
Because when the worst happened to me—when that RPG exploded in my lap in Iraq and I needed serious, sustained medical attention to survive the hour, the day, the year—I had health care I could rely on.
The same cannot be said for countless Americans.
Americans whose health care costs have already been too high, and whose access to care is in even greater danger if this Chamber is foolish enough to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as our next Secretary of HHS. Put simply, Mr. Kennedy cannot be trusted with the grave, grave responsibility that comes with this job.
He cannot be trusted with our lives. He is focused on pushing his agenda—regardless of the cost to middle-class Americans. And if this man is confirmed, more Americans will die preventable deaths because of his policies.
Next month will mark the five-year anniversary of when COVID shut down our nation. In this moment, it is dangerous, reckless and heartless to everyone who lost a loved one in the pandemic to even consider nominating a guy who has stated that, quote, “no vaccine is safe and effective.”
And if our HHS Secretary refuses to ensure children are protected against preventable-yet-deadly diseases—like measles, RSV, whooping cough or polio—it will be our kids, not Mr. Kennedy, who pay the price.
I’ve gotten letter after letter from my constituents, begging me to try to reason with my colleagues, to do whatever I can to prevent a man so ignorant of all things science and medicine from holding a position of such power over our child’s next breath.
One pediatrician from Illinois wrote to me: I will always remember the 9-month-old infant with whooping cough who could not be saved despite every high-tech ventilator and medication we had available.” Another said: “I recall a father screaming and punching a hole in the wall when his 4-year-old son died of chicken pox.” The stories, the letters, the avoidable tragedies go on and on. Imagine how much worse the heartbreak will become under a guy who acts like the term “vaccine” is a swear word.
Look, the only reason Kennedy is even up for confirmation is because he, like Elon Musk, decided to throw his dignity to the wind and bow down at Trump’s altar.
And because of that, he gets to be yet another rich guy with too few qualifications and too much power, somehow now charged with leading our government.
Trump is running this country like the mob: Kiss his ring, pledge your unyielding loyalty, get made—it’s just this time, you get made into a Cabinet Secretary. Well, Kennedy has given Trump his fealty. So why would any of us ever think that he’d have the courage to stand up to Trump if the President issues an order that actively harms everyday Americans? How could any of us actually believe that Kennedy would fight back against Trump’s worst instincts, when Kennedy has proven time and again that he believes more in sycophancy than science?
Now, Americans are going be the ones to suffer. Because now, with Kennedy’s confirmation, even programs as popular, effective and vital as Medicaid will be in even greater danger. Republicans told us in Project 2025 that they would come for Medicaid—and this is the rare case when the GOP has actually kept its word, putting at risk the roughly 80 million Americans who rely on it. Americans in red states and blue, in big cities and small towns—folks who may have never heard of RFK Jr., but who will certainly feel the effect when he rips away the care their family so desperately needs.
Medicaid is a lifeline for kids, for pregnant women, for people in nursing homes, for Americans with disabilities. But Republican’s don’t seem to care about any of that. It’s obvious that Donald Trump has never stayed up late at night hunched over the kitchen table, with a calculator in one hand and a medical bill in the other, praying to figure out a way to afford his child’s insulin.
No. Of course not.
With every passing day, it becomes clearer and clearer that Republicans care more about tax breaks for the billionaires they pal around with on the golf course than prescriptions for the middle-class folks who actually work at Mar-a-Lago.
And while that teacher in Peoria lays awake at night, trying to work out how she can afford her father’s home care now that he can no longer get those services through Medicaid… While that new mom in Chicago who’s just learned she has stage 3 cancer is trying to find a second job so she can afford both diapers for her newborn and her own chemotherapy…Donald Trump and Elon Musk will be too busy lining their already-full pockets to care.
To my colleagues on the other side of the aisle: I am sure many of you have faced health crises of your own. I’m sure many of you have had a parent who’s been sick or a nephew who’s been in a car crash… a spouse who’s needed an emergency C-section or a child who’s relied on an autoimmune injector. Imagine if your loved one hadn’t had care they could rely on in that moment.
Then ask yourself how you can sleep soundly tonight if you vote to further the agenda of a couple rich guys who so clearly don’t care about making America healthy—they only care about tipping it even more in favor of the wealthy. They’re not bringing back the good ole days of Reagan. They’re just bringing back the days of dying from the measles.
And they’re certainly not making America great again. They’re making America sick again. That’s the Trump-Kennedy promise.
I care about my constituents’ ability to afford their prescription meds. Their ability to get the vaccines that’ll keep them alive through the next pandemic. Their ability to survive those worst-case-scenario health moments without going broke in the process.
So for all those reasons and a thousand more, I will be voting no on Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s nomination. If my Republican colleagues care about any one of those things, too, then they will have no choice but to do the same. Thank you.
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