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erronis

(22,652 posts)
Tue Jun 24, 2025, 04:02 PM Jun 2025

RFK Jr grilled on vaccine policies and healthcare fraud in bruising House hearing

Source: The Guardian

Robert F Kennedy Jr, the US health secretary, faced a bruising day on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, including being forced to retract accusations against a Democratic congressman after claiming the lawmaker’s vaccine stance was bought by $2m in pharmaceutical contributions.

...

Kennedy launched his attack on representative Frank Pallone after the New Jersey Democrat hammered him over vaccine policy reversals. “You’ve accepted $2m from pharmaceutical companies,” Kennedy said. “Your enthusiasm for supporting the old [vaccine advisory committee] seems to be an outcome of those contributions.”

The accusation appeared to reference Pallone’s shift from raising concerns about mercury in FDA-approved products in the 1990s to later supporting mainstream vaccine policy – a change Kennedy suggested was motivated by industry money rather than science.

After a point of order, the Republican chair ordered Kennedy to retract the remarks after lawmakers accused him of impugning Pallone’s character. But the pharma attack was overshadowed by accusations that Kennedy lied his way into office. Representative Kim Schrier, a pediatrician, asked Kennedy: “Did you lie to senator [Bill] Cassidy when you told him you would not fire this panel of experts?”

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/24/rfk-congress-hearing-vaccines

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Karasu

(2,003 posts)
1. RFK Jr.'s appointment was the reddest of red lines and this country isn't remotely ready to pay the price for
Tue Jun 24, 2025, 04:06 PM
Jun 2025

everything that's happening to HHS.

PSPS

(15,217 posts)
2. "Kennedy lied his way into office"
Tue Jun 24, 2025, 04:06 PM
Jun 2025

Virtually every republican appointee in the last 45 years, from cabinet posts to supreme court justices, lied their way into office.

erronis

(22,652 posts)
3. Why does this rich dipshit want so much to destroy US health and science? What's in it for him?
Tue Jun 24, 2025, 04:10 PM
Jun 2025

A bit more from the article:

The hearing exposed the deepening fractures in Kennedy’s relationship with Congress, even among Republicans who initially supported his confirmation. What began as a routine budget hearing devolved into accusations of dishonesty, conflicts of interest and fundamental questions about whether Kennedy can be trusted to protect public health.

In one moment, representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez pressed Kennedy about his ignorance to the Trump administration’s reported investigation of UnitedHealthcare, the nation’s largest health insurer, for criminal fraud in Medicare Advantage plans.

“You are not aware that the Trump Department of Justice is investigating the largest insurance company in America?” Ocasio-Cortez asked again after suggesting he couldn’t confirm that it was happening.

When she said that for-profit insurers such as UnitedHealthcare defraud public programs of $80bn annually, Kennedy appeared confused about the scale: “Did you say 80 million or billion?”

“80 with a ‘B’,” Ocasio-Cortez said.

bucolic_frolic

(54,032 posts)
4. My take is like everything else it's about fracturing the State for plunder
Tue Jun 24, 2025, 04:29 PM
Jun 2025

Parts of the former federal employees will go with private concerns. And let's not forget the alternative medicine and vitamin industries. They stand to make a boatload from patients fleeing traditional health care. Is Kennedy in on it? This hosing could approach the size of crypto.

lastlib

(27,541 posts)
6. If he walked out of that hearing under his own power.....
Tue Jun 24, 2025, 04:45 PM
Jun 2025

...it wasn't "bruising" enough....
If his brainworm isn't bloody pulp, they need to swing the bat a few more times.

IMHO. Jeeez, Bobby Sr. must be spinning in his grave in embarrassment at this dweeb.

ancianita

(42,862 posts)
7. MLK's best quote fits RFK: "Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupdity."
Tue Jun 24, 2025, 06:47 PM
Jun 2025

CountAllVotes

(22,075 posts)
8. the nurse that was questioning RFK, Jr.
Tue Jun 24, 2025, 08:34 PM
Jun 2025

She nailed him good.

He had no idea what she was asking him re: a baby with meningitis.

He looked out of place. That's because RFK, Jr. is out of place!

He's a lawyer, not a scientist!



Response to erronis (Original post)

reACTIONary

(6,977 posts)
10. "Big Pharma"?
Tue Jun 24, 2025, 09:50 PM
Jun 2025

... You mean people who actually have knowledge and experience with vaccines were on that committee? Shocking!

womanofthehills

(10,712 posts)
12. The new committee has excellent drs and scientists not connected to Pfizer
Tue Jun 24, 2025, 10:07 PM
Jun 2025

If you watched any proceedings of the former committee online you would probably want them removed.

reACTIONary

(6,977 posts)
13. I'm not concerned about whether or not ....
Wed Jun 25, 2025, 08:45 AM
Jun 2025

.... The committee members are connected to Pfizer. My assessment is that would mean they are knowledgeable and experienced.

Beyond that, I am very satisfied with the direction that our public health officials have taken us in, and don't see any reason for making any changes. What is it that you are dissatisfied with? Where do you think they went wrong?

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