President-elect Donald Trump’s choice for Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is intent on implementing his “Make America Healthy Again” plan, but first, the former Democrat and independent presidential candidate must meet with senators on Capitol Hill.
For Kennedy, the process of seeking Senate confirmation begins next week with four consecutive days of meetings, a spokesperson for Kennedy’s team, Stefanie Spear, told The Epoch Times. Politico first reported the meetings.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) manages 13 agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
In January, Kennedy will face confirmation hearings with the Senate Finance Committee, which oversees the HHS and is scheduled to be led by Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho).
If he is approved by that panel, the full Senate will vote on Kennedy’s nomination.
When the Senate convenes in January, Republicans will hold 53 seats compared to 47 for the Democrats.
Fighting chronic disease, improving children’s health, and addressing corporate influence on government agencies were vital parts of Kennedy’s campaign platform when he ran as a Democrat and then an independent before leaving the presidential race and backing Trump in August.
With the slogan “Make America Healthy Again,” Kennedy would address what he calls the chronic disease epidemic by removing toxic chemicals from the nation’s food supply, among other objectives.
He has vowed to make significant changes to the FDA, NIH, and CDC, all of which he believes have been captured by corporations.
“If I’m given the chance to fix the chronic disease crisis and reform our food production, I promise that within two years, we will watch the chronic disease burden lift dramatically,” Kennedy said while sharing the stage with Trump in August.
During a rally at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Oct. 27, Trump said, “I’m going to let [Kennedy] go wild on health. I’m going to let him go wild on the food. I’m going to let him go wild on the medicines.”
After Trump announced his nomination, Kennedy said in a statement on X that he looks forward to “working with more than 80,000 employees at HHS to free the agencies from the smothering cloud of corporate capture so they can pursue their mission to make Americans once again the healthiest people on Earth.”
“We have a generational opportunity to bring together the greatest minds in science, medicine, industry, and government to put an end to the chronic disease epidemic,” he said.
“Together, we will clean up corruption, stop the revolving door between industry and government, and return our health agencies to their rich tradition of gold-standard, evidence-based science. I will provide Americans with transparency and access to all the data so they can make informed choices for themselves and their families.”
Former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Republican presidential nominee, former U.S. President Donald Trump shake hands during a campaign rally at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Ariz., on Aug. 23, 2024. (Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)
Kennedy maintains that little will change until giant or private corporations stop controlling the FDA, the CDC, and the Department of Agriculture.
“Their function is no longer to improve and protect the health of Americans,” he said at a roundtable organized by Johnson on Sept 23. “Their function is to advance the mercantile and commercial interests of the pharmaceutical industry ... and the food industry that has transformed them into sock puppets.”
The possibility of Kennedy leading the HHS has been praised by many Republican lawmakers and vaccine and food safety advocates while drawing criticism from multiple Democratic legislators and public health officials.
Crapo, the incoming chair of the Senate Finance Committee, voiced his support for Kennedy’s health care agenda in a statement on Nov. 18.
“RFK Jr. has prioritized addressing chronic diseases through consumer choice and healthy lifestyle,” Crapo said. “American patients, providers, and taxpayers deserve a health care system that is efficient, effective, and affordable. I look forward to considering his nomination before the Finance Committee.”
Much like Kennedy, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) has been outspoken about questioning the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccine protocols.
In a Nov. 14 post on X, Johnson called Kennedy “a courageous truth-teller whose unwavering commitment to transparency will make America a healthier nation.”
Several Democrats have criticized Trump’s selection of Kennedy.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said Trump is putting a “vaccine and science denier” in charge.
Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) posted on X, “There’s no telling how far ... RFK Jr. could set America back in terms of public health, reproductive rights, research, & more.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) speaks at NHTI Concord Community College before President Joe Biden in Concord, New Hampshire. on Oct. 22, 2024. (Scott Eisen/Getty Images)
An unlikely potential ally for Kennedy emerged last week at an event held by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP).
At a hearing titled, “What Is the FDA Doing to Reduce the Diabetes and Obesity Epidemics in America and Take on the Greed of the Food and Beverage Industry?” a bipartisan group of senators questioned current FDA Commissioner Robert M. Califf about why the agency has not more closely regulated ultra-processed foods and artificial food dyes.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who chairs the committee, was vocal about his dismay.
“Congress and the FDA have allowed large corporations to make huge profits by enticing children and adults to consume ultra-processed food and beverages loaded up with sugar, salt, and saturated fat,” Sanders said.
“Much of the food that we as Americans are now consuming is making us unhealthy and contributing to the fact that our life expectancy is significantly lower than that of many other wealthy countries. None of this is happening by accident.”
Kennedy, a staunch advocate for regulating chemicals in food, recently suggested that Americans should return to using tallow fat instead of seed oils. He has criticized food manufacturers for using ingredients such as artificial dyes.
He noted, for instance, that the U.S. version of the Froot Loops cereal contains more artificial colors and additives than versions sold in other countries.
Kennedy has pointed out that ultra-processed foods contain chemicals that didn’t exist a century ago, and said that they are partly responsible for the rise in disease. Many of these chemicals are banned in Europe, he noted, but they are plentiful in American foods.
Many of Sanders’s comments at the hearing aligned with what Kennedy has said since the latter entered the 2024 presidential race as a Democrat in April 2023.
After the hearing, Sanders told CBS News that Kennedy’s views about the food industry were “exactly correct.”
“You have a food industry concerned about their profits, could care less about the health of the American people,” Sanders said.
However, Sanders called Kennedy’s stance on vaccines and removing fluoride from the U.S. water supply “extremely dangerous.”
During the hearing, Ed Markey (D-Mass.) reiterated his concerns about Kennedy’s nomination.
“Some would say what he says on diet and the importance of healthy foods is reasonable. However, one reasonable opinion does not qualify someone to run the United States Department of Health and Human Services.”
In response to critics, Kennedy has said that he is neither anti-vaccine nor anti-science and that he advocates for vaccine safety and informed consent.
“I’ve never been anti-vaccine. People should have a choice, and that choice should be informed by the best information possible,“ he told The Epoch Times in an interview last year.
“I’m going to ensure that there are science-based safety studies available, and people can make their own assessments about whether a vaccine is good for them.”
