During a Wednesday Senate Finance committee hearing, Senator Reverend Warnock questioned Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Trump’s nominee to run the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
Senator Reverend Warnock’s questioning defended the importance of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which employs over 10,000 hardworking Georgians
Senator Reverend Warnock expressed concerns over disturbing comments and long-held beliefs of Kennedy that would threaten health care costs, quality, and access for millions of Georgians and Americans
Senator Reverend Warnock: “The CDC is an agency filled with hard-working, dedicated public health servants. They wake up every single day working to keep us safe. We don’t think often enough about their work because it’s easy not to celebrate folks who are protecting you from that which doesn’t appear because of the work that they’re doing”
Watch Senator Warnock at Wednesday’s Senate Finance committee hearing HERE
Washington, D.C. – Today, during a Senate Finance committee hearing on the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), U.S. Senator Reverend Warnock (D-GA) pressed Kennedy on disturbing comments and long-held beliefs of Kennedy that would threaten health care costs and thousands of Georgia health care jobs.
“Mr. Kennedy, you have compared the CDC’s work to Nazi death camps. You’ve compared it to sexual abusers in the Catholic Church. You’ve also said that many of them belong in jail,” said Senator Reverend Warnock. “For me, those are disturbing characterizations of the CDC workers that I know, who are trying to keep the American public safe every single day.”
During the line of questioning, Senator Warnock also asked the nominee about the bureaucratic hoops many people in Georgia have to jump through in order to access health care. This line of questioning led to Kennedy admitting that people in these situations need health care as opposed to programs, like work requirements in Georgia, one of the many barriers to entry for Medicaid in the state.
“A woman I think of all the time, her name is Heather. She’s a traveling nurse from Dalton, Georgia who falls into the Medicaid coverage gap. Heather experienced a series of small strokes leaving her unable to work full time. She’s dedicated her life to caring for patients, but now she can’t afford her own medical care out-of-pocket costs because she doesn’t make enough to qualify for tax credits to buy private insurance. What does Heather need? Does she need work requirements, or does she need access to health care so she can finally get healthy and get back to work?” Senator Warnock asked Kennedy.
“The individual that you described would need healthcare and not a work requirement,” said Kennedy.
Senator Warnock has long championed efforts to expand affordable health care access, starting with his advocacy to close the health care coverage gap in Georgia. Last year, the Senator visited the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia for the first time as Senator to learn about the agency’s efforts to protect public health, including work to combat the maternal mortality crisis and how federal funding plays a role in keeping Georgia and the country safe from infectious diseases. In addition to pushing for solutions to close the coverage gap, Senator Warnock led a delegation of Georgia lawmakers in urging the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to provide tools to Medicaid non-expansion states like Georgia to help them protect health care access for Medicaid enrollees who lose eligibility after the end of the public health emergency declaration. Senator Warnock made his first visit to Georgia’s legislative session as a U.S. Senator last year, highlighting the need to expand Medicaid for more than 640,000 Georgians.
Watch the Senator’s full remarks and line of questioning HERE.
See below a full transcript of the exchanges between Senator Warnock and Secretary of Health and Human Services nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr.:
Senator Reverend Warnock (SRW): “I want to talk to you first about the CDC, or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. I’m proud of the work that the CDC does, proud that it’s located in Georgia, with more than 10,000 employees in my state. If confirmed, you would be the cabinet secretary over the CDC. Representing HHS is about 29% of the federal budget, CDC is a part of that.
“Do you agree that the CDC’s work is critical to Georgia, critical for our country, and the health of the entire world?”
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (RFK): Yes, Senator.
SRW: Senator Isakson, my Republican predecessor would have agreed with that, bless his memory, he was a fierce advocate for the CDC, as am I. The CDC is an agency filled with hard-working, dedicated public health servants.
“They wake up every single day working to keep us safe. We don’t think often enough about their work because it’s easy not to celebrate folks who are protecting you from that which doesn’t appear because of the work that they’re doing. So grateful for the work that the CDC employees do, some of them are members of my church. I saw that deep commitment firsthand when I visited the CDC just last summer.
“Mr. Kennedy, you have compared the CDC’s work to Nazi death camps. You’ve compared it to sexual abusers in the Catholic Church. You’ve also said that many of them belong, this is a direct quote, many of them belong in jail. For me those are disturbing characterizations of the CDC workers that I know who are trying to keep the American public safe every single day and as you are presented as the nominee for this position, I need to know, do you stand by those statements that you, you made in the past or do you retract those previous statements?”
RFK: “Senator, I don’t believe that I ever compared the CDC to Nazi death camps. I support the CDC, my job is not to dismantle or harm the CDC, my job is to empower the scientists if I’m privileged to be confirmed.”
SRW: “So, you retract those statements?”
RFK: “I’m not retracting it. I never said it.”
SRW: “Well, actually I have a transcript. Let me read your words, you said ‘That the institution CDC and the vaccine program is more important than the children that is supposed to protect and you know it’s the same reason we had a pedophile scandal in the Catholic Church it’s because people were able to convince themselves that the institution of the church was more important than those little boys and girls who were being raped’
“That’s pretty provocative language you said in another statement to me ‘This is like Nazi death camp. […] What happened to these kids? 1 in 31 boys in this country, their minds are being robbed from them.”
RFK: “I was not comparing the CDC to Nazi death camps, I was comparing the injury rate to our children to other atrocities and I wouldn’t compare the, of course, the CDC to Nazi death camps to any extent.
“And any statement that I made has been interpreted that way, I don’t agree with that.”
[…]
SRW: “It sounds like you stand by those statements?”
RFK: “My objective is to support the CDC. There’s nothing I’m going to do that is going to harm CDC. I want to make sure that our science is gold standard science, that it’s free from that same government oversight investigation committee, and that the panels [… ] within CDC. I think 97% of the people on it had conflicts. I don’t believe that that’s right. I think we need to end those conflicts and make sure that scientists are doing unobstructed science.”
SRW: “Last week the White House gagged HHS and the CDC, preventing them from communicating all important public health information to anyone. Including our allies in the United States and global disease prevention. Do you agree with that action?”
RFK: “I was not consulted on it, but that’s pretty much standard operating procedure for the incoming administration.”
SRW: “So you agree with the action that gagged HHS and CDC from communicating important public health information?”
RFK: “That directive made sure that no use public health and only non-essential travel and mass communications were temporarily suspended, pending the confirmation of a new HHS secretary, this is standard operating procedure for administration.”
SRW: “I don’t think what we’ve seen over the last several days is standard operation for a new administration. I think we’re seeing some unprecedented actions, but you agree with it.
“Last night mem members of the CDC, along with other federal employees were actually invited to resign, these buyouts. I actually got text messages from folks I know from the CDC (who work) for the CDC that do this important work who got that note. It’s really important because my experience is that when you send out that kind of note, the folks who resign are the folks who you least likely want to see resign.
“They got other options, they’re gifted folks, they’ve got a lot of expertise. A lot of them are doing this work because of their patriotism, because of their commitment. Do you agree with the buyouts that were presented to CDC employees just last night?”
RFK: “I agree the vast majority of the scientists and experts at CDC are patriots and government servants.
SRW: “Can you tell me yes or no? […] Ok, you agree with the buyouts.”
“In our meeting, I asked you to confirm your support for the Affordable Care Act. You also mentioned that you and President Trump want to fix the ACA by making premiums more affordable.
“Did you know that tax credits that help families afford health insurance and save George’s an average of $531 per month per person are set to expire at the end of the year? Did you know that?”
RFK: “I do.”
SRW: “Do you support Congress extending these tax credits so that Americans can continue to afford health care?
*RFK gives non “Yes” or “No” response
SRW: “I think that the fact that you find it difficult to answer basic questions is deeply troubling for me as you present yourself as a nominee to run HHS.
SRW: “Based on our conversations, it’s my understanding that you support work requirements and Medicaid. In 2020, President Trump approved a proposal from Georgia state leaders requiring Georgians to jump through a number of onerous bureaucratic hoops and fill out even more paperwork, to verify work and get access to health care.
“I asked this as someone who represents a state that has not expanded Medicaid, the federal government, because of this waiver, spent $70 million on Georgia’s Medicaid waiver. 82% of that went to administrative costs.
“The point that I’m making is that the folks that they’re insisting need to work, 90% of those folks are working. They are caregivers or they have a disability.
“Let me give you one example. A woman I think of all the time, her name is Heather. She’s a traveling nurse from Dalton, Georgia who falls into the Medicaid coverage gap. Heather experienced a series of small strokes leaving her unable to work full time. She’s dedicated her life to caring for patients, but now she can’t afford her own medical care out-of-pocket costs because she doesn’t make enough to qualify for tax credits to buy private insurance.
“What does Heather need? Does she need work requirements, or does she need access to health care so she can finally get healthy and get back to work?
RFK: “The individual that you described would need healthcare and not a work requirement.
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