Latest / Gil I Am / RFK JR testifies at Senate hearing amid CDC chaos...Part 1

Transcript

RFK JR testifies at Senate hearing amid CDC chaos...Part 1 · Gil I Am

0:06
Speaker 1: This hearing will come to order.
0:08
Speaker 2: Today we meet to hear from US Department of Health
0:10
Speaker 2: and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Junior, about President
0:15
Speaker 2: Trump's twenty twenty six healthcare agenda.
0:18
Speaker 1: Mister Secretary, thank you for being here.
0:22
Speaker 2: While I expect a spirited debate today, I would remind
0:24
Speaker 2: my colleagues that each senator is limited to five minutes,
0:28
Speaker 2: and we're going to try to keep that as tight
0:29
Speaker 2: as we can.
0:30
Speaker 1: Today there's twenty seven of us, and.
0:32
Speaker 2: We all probably are going to want to have our
0:34
Speaker 2: opportunity at the end of the five minute time frame.
0:38
Speaker 1: I will gently tap.
0:39
Speaker 2: The gavel if it appears that things are starting to
0:41
Speaker 2: lapse over and encourage my colleagues and our witness to
0:46
Speaker 2: conclude their remarks at the conclusion of this time. President
0:50
Speaker 2: Trump and Secretary Kennedy have made a steadfast commitment to
0:54
Speaker 2: make America healthy again. Under this administration, HHS has placed
0:59
Speaker 2: patients at the center of the health care system, empowering
1:03
Speaker 2: them with the tools and information they need to create
1:05
Speaker 2: a healthier future. We know that chronic diseases such as
1:10
Speaker 2: heart disease and cancer and diabetes are some of the
1:13
Speaker 2: leading causes of death in America. Now, the Department has
1:18
Speaker 2: a renewed focus on tackling the root causes of chronic
1:21
Speaker 2: disease and promoting prevention first. I look forward to exploring
1:26
Speaker 2: ways that the federal government can further align payment incentives
1:29
Speaker 2: to support healthy living and fight chronic disease. The administration
1:35
Speaker 2: has also prioritized efforts to end waste, fraud, and abuse
1:39
Speaker 2: in our federal health care programs, including through eligibility and
1:43
Speaker 2: enrollment verification. This critical work is not just about saving
1:49
Speaker 2: taxpayer dollars, it's about restoring trust and ensuring vital programs
1:54
Speaker 2: like Medicare and Medicaid are sustainable for generations to come.
2:00
Speaker 2: In July, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services CMS
2:04
Speaker 2: announced that the agency identified two point eight million Americans
2:09
Speaker 2: who were simultaneously enrolled in multiple Medicaid or Affordable Care
2:14
Speaker 2: Act exchange plans. Stopping this duplicate enrollment, while working with
2:21
Speaker 2: states to ensure that individuals do not inappropriately lose coverage,
2:25
Speaker 2: has the potential to save taxpayers fourteen billion dollars annually.
2:31
Speaker 2: CMS has also taken steps to provide states with additional
2:35
Speaker 2: immigration information to verify eligibility for federal health care programs.
2:41
Speaker 2: Preserving lifelines like Medicaid for those who are legally entitled
2:45
Speaker 2: under the law will ensure long term sustainability. Congress has
2:51
Speaker 2: bolstered these efforts by passing the One Big Beautiful Bill.
2:56
Speaker 2: This bill enacts common sense reforms to reduce proper payments
3:00
Speaker 2: and brings needed personal accountability to the Medicaid program. These
3:06
Speaker 2: reforms will protect Medicaid and refocus the program on the
3:10
Speaker 2: most vulnerable patients, those whom the program was intended to serve.
3:16
Speaker 2: THEEBA also created the Rural Health Transformation Program, the single
3:22
Speaker 2: largest investment in rural health care in decades, to help
3:26
Speaker 2: stabilize and modernize the rural health delivery system throughout our country.
3:31
Speaker 2: These accomplishments reflect a vision for a healthcare system that
3:35
Speaker 2: is proactive, efficient, and patient centered. While many of the
3:41
Speaker 2: issues discussed today may be partisan in nature, this committee
3:45
Speaker 2: has a deep history of bipartisan healthcare accomplishments. I remain
3:50
Speaker 2: committed to partnering with this administration and Ranking Member Widen
3:54
Speaker 2: to enact policies that realign incentives in the prescription drug
3:58
Speaker 2: supply chain and access to telehealth, and insure long term
4:03
Speaker 2: stability in our physician payment system. Mister Secretary, I look
4:08
Speaker 2: forward to hearing from you today about the administration's efforts
4:11
Speaker 2: to make America healthy again and how we can continue
4:16
Speaker 2: to work together to achieve this shared goal.
4:19
Speaker 1: Thank you very much, Senator Widen.
4:21
Speaker 3: Thank you, mister Chairman.
4:23
Speaker 4: As the Committee gathers today, the United States is in
4:27
Speaker 4: the midst of a healthcare calamity, the largest cuts to
4:32
Speaker 4: American healthcare in the history of our nation, and they
4:37
Speaker 4: are approaching like an avalanche. Last week, most of the
4:41
Speaker 4: senior leadership at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
4:45
Speaker 4: were fired or they resigned after refusing to bow to
4:50
Speaker 4: Robert Kennedy's unceasing crusade against vaccines. I traveled across Oregon
4:57
Speaker 4: last month and the message was the same from one
5:00
Speaker 4: end of the state to the other.
5:02
Speaker 3: Families are confused.
5:03
Speaker 4: They're scared about who to trust about their healthcare. Robert
5:08
Speaker 4: Kennedy and Donald Trump have done so much to feed
5:12
Speaker 4: that mistrust. This morning, my staff, in partnership with Center
5:18
Speaker 4: Also Brooks Team, is releasing a report that shows the
5:20
Speaker 4: disaster of Robert Kennedy's two hundred and three days in office.
5:25
Speaker 4: Every single day there's been an action that endangers the
5:29
Speaker 4: health and wellness of American families.
5:32
Speaker 3: Robert Kennedy is elevated conspiracy.
5:34
Speaker 4: Theorists, crackpots, and grifters to make life or death decisions
5:40
Speaker 4: about the healthcare of the American people. Robert Kennedy's tenure
5:45
Speaker 4: is so far marked by three calling cards. One is
5:49
Speaker 4: chaos at federal health agencies, leaving families, doctors in the
5:53
Speaker 4: entire nation confused and frightened. Corruption that benefits Robert Kennedy,
5:59
Speaker 4: Donald Trump, and their friends at the expense of taxpayers
6:03
Speaker 4: and higher health costs for families. I ask unanimous consent,
6:06
Speaker 4: as Chairman Danner, this report into.
6:08
Speaker 1: The record without objection.
6:10
Speaker 3: Then there's chaos.
6:11
Speaker 4: It's been obvious from the start that Robert Kennedy's primary
6:15
Speaker 4: interest is to take vaccines away from Americans. During his
6:20
Speaker 4: confirmation process, he claimed to be pro safety in pro science,
6:25
Speaker 4: but his actions reveal a steadfast commitment to elevating junk
6:28
Speaker 4: science and fringe conspiracies. His agenda has not been about
6:33
Speaker 4: choices and information for families. Just last week, he threatened
6:37
Speaker 4: doctors that deviated from the new anti science vaccine guidelines
6:41
Speaker 4: he released that make it harder for pregnant women and
6:43
Speaker 4: children to get the COVID vaccine.
6:47
Speaker 3: And then there's corruption.
6:49
Speaker 4: Robert Kennedy's bizarre statements and actions beg the question why
6:53
Speaker 4: Democrats on this committee answered that question months ago. Robert
6:57
Speaker 4: Kennedy can enrich himself and his allies. His family still
7:01
Speaker 4: stands to gain from class action lawsuits against vaccine makers. Now,
7:07
Speaker 4: Robert Kennedy fired every member, every single one of the
7:10
Speaker 4: group responsible for making vaccine recommendations to doctors across the country,
7:15
Speaker 4: under the false pretense of conflicts of interest. Meanwhile, many
7:20
Speaker 4: of the new members of the panel are outright vaccine
7:23
Speaker 4: deniers who've appeared as paid witnesses and lawsuits against vaccine makers.
7:28
Speaker 4: Their conflicts of interest and ethics disclosures remain hidden under
7:32
Speaker 4: lock and key. On top of all this bedlam in
7:36
Speaker 4: American healthcareater, just two months ago, Donald Trump signed into
7:40
Speaker 4: law the largest health care cuts in American history to
7:44
Speaker 4: pay for tax breaks for the wealthiest people in massive
7:47
Speaker 4: corporations in our country.
7:50
Speaker 3: Republicans know these cuts are going to hit communities like
7:53
Speaker 3: a wrecking ball.
7:54
Speaker 4: That's why they pushed the most severe cuts until after
7:58
Speaker 4: the election. That's why their members already introduced bills to
8:02
Speaker 4: roll back some.
8:03
Speaker 3: Of the cuts.
8:04
Speaker 4: Make no mistake, though those cuts are being felt right now.
8:08
Speaker 3: We're seeing hospitals.
8:09
Speaker 4: In Idaho cutting payments, hospitals and nursing homes. Providence Syside
8:13
Speaker 4: Hospital in Oregon announce they're shutting down their labor and
8:16
Speaker 4: delivery unit. Every family is going to feel the burden
8:21
Speaker 4: of Trump.
8:22
Speaker 3: Care in America.
8:24
Speaker 4: Premiums are going to spike next year, especially for those
8:26
Speaker 4: who buy health insurance on their own, but the effects
8:28
Speaker 4: will be felt by those who get insurance also through
8:32
Speaker 4: an employer. Congress has an opportunity to extend the Affordable
8:36
Speaker 4: Care Act tax credits that lower the cost of premiums.
8:39
Speaker 4: Democrats are ready to pass an extension that stops a
8:43
Speaker 4: dramatic premium spike that forced many families to pay double
8:46
Speaker 4: what they do today. Instead of finding ways to help
8:49
Speaker 4: American families pay less for healthcare, Robert Kennedy is focused
8:54
Speaker 4: on his anti vaccine mission, fueled by some kind of
8:57
Speaker 4: complex that the consequences be damned. Amid this litany of
9:04
Speaker 4: corruption and chaos, the one point I have to underline
9:07
Speaker 4: is Robert Kennedy puts children in harm's way every single day.
9:12
Speaker 3: In America.
9:13
Speaker 4: To my Republican colleagues, I must ask what line must
9:17
Speaker 4: Robert Kennedy cross before some of you will also join
9:22
Speaker 4: this alarm. This weekend, under the cover of darkness, Robert
9:25
Speaker 4: Kennedy attempted to disappear hundreds of children under his care
9:28
Speaker 4: at Office of Refugee Resettlement Facilities. These children here without
9:33
Speaker 4: parents or family were rounded up in the middle of
9:35
Speaker 4: the night and put on planes to Guatemala. Lawyers on
9:38
Speaker 4: the ground described unthinkable scenes. Our staff, some who are
9:44
Speaker 4: here today were party to this in the middle of
9:47
Speaker 4: the night, and one child said to their lawyer, why
9:50
Speaker 4: do they want to send me back? My mom is
9:53
Speaker 4: dead and my dad abuses me. Why do they want
9:56
Speaker 4: to hurt me? This was an actual conversation at is
10:00
Speaker 4: where illegal documents show that many of these children were
10:02
Speaker 4: in the country to escape trafficking in their home land.
10:07
Speaker 4: Mister Kennedy calls himself a protector of children, some kind
10:11
Speaker 4: of rich claim, claiming from somebody who's flown on Jeffrey
10:14
Speaker 4: Epstein's private jet on multiple occasions. I don't think Robert
10:20
Speaker 4: Kennedy should be within a million miles of this job.
10:23
Speaker 4: Republicans on the committee had a chance to prevent the
10:25
Speaker 4: public health train wreck that mister Kennedy has engineered.
10:29
Speaker 3: Everyone voted for him.
10:31
Speaker 4: It is in the country's best interest that Robert Kennedy
10:35
Speaker 4: step down, and if he doesn't, Donald Trump should fire
10:38
Speaker 4: him before more people are hurt. But his reckless disregard
10:41
Speaker 4: for science and the truth. I also would like to
10:44
Speaker 4: note Senator Cantwell has joined us in this effort. I hope,
10:48
Speaker 4: at the very least, Robert Kennedy has the decency to
10:51
Speaker 4: tell the truth this morning as the president. Excuse me,
10:54
Speaker 4: mister Chairman, I have a procedural request I'd like to
10:59
Speaker 4: make at this time, short one proceed.
11:03
Speaker 3: Thank you, Miss chairman. Miss Chairman.
11:06
Speaker 4: It's unfortunate that I have to say this, but this
11:09
Speaker 4: is a witness who has lied to members of the
11:12
Speaker 4: Senate Finance Committee. In response to over thirty five written questions,
11:16
Speaker 4: including from me, he said, and I quote, that he
11:19
Speaker 4: would do nothing. It's ajh's secretary that makes it difficult
11:24
Speaker 4: or discourages people from taking vaccines.
11:28
Speaker 3: That was clearly not true.
11:31
Speaker 4: His unprecedented unilateral actions to restrict access to COVID vaccines
11:36
Speaker 4: that alone proves it. He tried to fire the Senate
11:39
Speaker 4: approved CDC director after she chose the truth over what
11:44
Speaker 4: I consider his delusions. His prepared testimony even today includes
11:49
Speaker 4: the debunk lie that half a million children disappeared under
11:51
Speaker 4: the Biden administration's watch, a lie that the Trump administration
11:55
Speaker 4: is using as a pretext to hunt immigrant children.
11:58
Speaker 3: And their families. So my request, mister Chairman.
12:03
Speaker 4: And I think it's unfortunate that I have to do this,
12:07
Speaker 4: but given the unprecedented nature of the witnesses behavior, I
12:10
Speaker 4: would ask now that the Committee formally swear in Robert
12:14
Speaker 4: Kennedy as a witness.
12:18
Speaker 2: Senator White and I will personally object and will reject
12:20
Speaker 2: your request. We will treat this witness as we treat
12:23
Speaker 2: all of the other administration witnesses who come before us.
12:27
Speaker 2: And let me just say again, as I said in
12:30
Speaker 2: my opening remarks, we will have some partisan disagreements today.
12:34
Speaker 2: We're having parties in disagreements right now, and your I
12:37
Speaker 2: am having partisan disagreements with you on your characterization of
12:40
Speaker 2: the facts. The bottom line is we will let the
12:43
Speaker 2: Secretary make his own case in his opening statement.
12:46
Speaker 4: I'll only say, you know, mister Chairman, that this Committee's
12:51
Speaker 4: unwillingness to swear this witness is basically a message that
12:58
Speaker 4: it is acceptable to lie to the Senate Finance Committee
13:01
Speaker 4: about hugely important questions like vaccines. I think it's a
13:05
Speaker 4: great mistake, and that's why I've made the request to
13:07
Speaker 4: understand if you're not going to grant it and we
13:11
Speaker 4: can move on.
13:11
Speaker 2: We'll get to the bottom of your accusations. But at
13:14
Speaker 2: this point I'm going to turn to our witness, the
13:18
Speaker 2: Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F.
13:21
Speaker 1: Kennedy Junior, and mister Kennedy.
13:24
Speaker 2: Mister Secretary, you may make your opening statement at this time.
13:28
Speaker 5: Thank you Chairman Crapo, and thank you Ranking Member Wide
13:32
Speaker 5: and the invitation with me here before the committee today.
13:36
Speaker 5: Before I summarize what we've accomplished this year at HHS,
13:40
Speaker 5: I want to express my deepest condolence to the family
13:43
Speaker 5: of the Kalb County Police officer David Rose, who gave
13:47
Speaker 5: his life to stop the gunfire attack on the CDC
13:50
Speaker 5: on August age. Officer Rose was a veteran. He was
13:55
Speaker 5: a husband and the father of two children. Officers Rose's widow,
14:01
Speaker 5: whom I visited, is expecting their third child. I'd like
14:05
Speaker 5: officer rose family to know that he remains in our
14:09
Speaker 5: prayers and that he will continue to be in our thoughts.
14:14
Speaker 5: Let me start with the big picture. Under President Trump's leadership,
14:17
Speaker 5: we at HHS are enacting a once in a generation
14:20
Speaker 5: shift from a sick care system to a true healthcare
14:24
Speaker 5: system that tackles the root causes of chronic disease. Chronic
14:29
Speaker 5: diseases reached crisis proportions in our country, and finally we
14:33
Speaker 5: have an administration that is taking action. The MAHA Report Assessment,
14:38
Speaker 5: which the White House released in May, was the first
14:41
Speaker 5: government analysis to the key drivers of childhood chronic disease,
14:46
Speaker 5: ultra process foods, chemical exposures, physical inactivity, and over medicalization.
14:54
Speaker 5: This month, we will follow with the MAHA Reports strategy,
14:57
Speaker 5: the Trump administration solution for address each cause. At HHS,
15:03
Speaker 5: we haven't just been writing reports. We have been the busiest,
15:07
Speaker 5: most proactive administration in HHS history. And just half a
15:14
Speaker 5: year we've taken on food dies, aby formula contamination, the
15:19
Speaker 5: grass b loophole, fluoride in our drinking water, gas station heroine,
15:24
Speaker 5: electronic cigarettes, drug prices, prior authorization, information blocking.
15:41
Speaker 1: The committee will come to order.
15:52
Speaker 2: I apologize to you for the outburst. Secretary Kennedy, I
15:56
Speaker 2: would notify everyone else in the audience. Comment from the
16:00
Speaker 2: audiences our audience are inappropriate. If there are any further disruptions,
16:05
Speaker 2: the committee will recess until the police can restore order.
16:09
Speaker 2: Mister Secretary, please proceed.
16:12
Speaker 5: As I was saying, prior authorization, information blocking, and healthcare interoperability.
16:19
Speaker 5: We are ending in a function research child mutilation and
16:24
Speaker 5: reducing animal testing. We are addressing cell phone use in schools,
16:29
Speaker 5: excessive screen time for youth, the lack of nutrition education
16:34
Speaker 5: in our medical schools, sickle cell aneme, happetitis see the
16:39
Speaker 5: East Palestine chemical spill, and many many others. At FDA,
16:44
Speaker 5: we are now on track to approve more drugs this
16:48
Speaker 5: year than at any time any history. I'm also proud
16:52
Speaker 5: to say that AHH has time to President Trump is
16:54
Speaker 5: doing more with less. We have taken measures to fight waste, fraud,
16:59
Speaker 5: and abuse. Just by eliminating duplicative enrollments in CMAS, we
17:05
Speaker 5: are saving taxpayers fourteen billion.
17:07
Speaker 6: Dollars a year.
17:09
Speaker 5: Meanwhile, we are expanding access for people who need it.
17:13
Speaker 5: We are ending races, diversity, equity and inclusion practices and
17:17
Speaker 5: instead focusing on aiding low income and vulnerable families regardless
17:24
Speaker 5: of their race, which was the original ten intent of
17:28
Speaker 5: Title ten. We're also pouring a billion dollars into head
17:32
Speaker 5: Start and the Administration for Children and Families.
17:35
Speaker 6: Compassion need not be.
17:37
Speaker 5: The casualty of efficiency. I'd like to highlight some issues
17:41
Speaker 5: that have not gotten media attention. First, we are doing
17:45
Speaker 5: our part to fill the President's commitment to stop human trafficking,
17:50
Speaker 5: especially of children. We inherited a terrible humanitarian crisis from
17:55
Speaker 5: the previous administration, with its open border policies allowed the
18:00
Speaker 5: appalling loss of four hundred and seventy six thousand unaccompanied children.
18:06
Speaker 6: We have implemented policies.
18:07
Speaker 5: Now to ensure that that appalling tragedy can never happen again.
18:12
Speaker 6: We have knocked on.
18:14
Speaker 5: Eighty two thousand doors and located twenty two thousand of
18:17
Speaker 5: those children. I promise you that we will do more
18:22
Speaker 5: in the.
18:22
Speaker 6: Next three years.
18:23
Speaker 5: We are also addressing disastrous health conditions in tribal communities
18:28
Speaker 5: on Native American reservations. I've met face to face with
18:32
Speaker 5: tribal leaders in dozens of communities and tribes in Alaska, Arizona, Idaho,
18:39
Speaker 5: New Mexico, and elsewhere, and I look forward to making
18:43
Speaker 5: HHS resources more available to those communities. One of the
18:47
Speaker 5: most nicous significant initiatives under President Trump is the Rural
18:51
Speaker 5: Health Transformation Fund, part of the President's Big Beautiful Bill,
18:56
Speaker 5: which will provide the greatest investment of federal money into
18:59
Speaker 5: rural health care in history. Finally, I would like to
19:03
Speaker 5: address the reason shake up, said CDC. These changes were
19:07
Speaker 5: absolutely necessary adjustments to restore the agency to its role
19:13
Speaker 5: as the world's gold standard public health agency with the
19:17
Speaker 5: central mission of protecting Americans from infectious disease. CDC failed
19:24
Speaker 5: that response of her ability miserably during COVID, when its
19:28
Speaker 5: disasteris and nonsensical policies destroyed small businesses, violated civil liberties,
19:33
Speaker 5: closed our schools, caused generational damage in doing so, mass
19:39
Speaker 5: infants with no science, and heightened economic inequality.
19:44
Speaker 6: And yet all.
19:45
Speaker 5: Those pressive and unscientific interventions failed to do anything about
19:50
Speaker 5: the disease itself. America is home to four point two
19:54
Speaker 5: percent of the world's population, yet we had nearly twenty
19:58
Speaker 5: percent of the COVID deaths. We literally did worse than
20:02
Speaker 5: any country in the world. And the people at CDC
20:07
Speaker 5: who oversaw that process, who put masks on our children,
20:10
Speaker 5: who closed our schools are the people who will be leaving,
20:15
Speaker 5: and that's why we need bold, competent and creative new
20:18
Speaker 5: leadership at CDC, people able and willing to chart a
20:23
Speaker 5: new course. As my father once said, progress is a
20:26
Speaker 5: nice word. A change its motivator, and change has its enemies.
20:33
Speaker 5: That's why we need new blood at CDC. That's also
20:36
Speaker 5: why it's imperative and we remove officials with conflicts of
20:39
Speaker 5: interest and catastrophically bad judgment and political agendas. We need
20:45
Speaker 5: unbiased politics, free, transparent, evident based science in the public interest.
20:53
Speaker 5: Those are the guiding principles behind the changes at the CDC,
20:56
Speaker 5: and that is what you can expect all across our
21:00
Speaker 5: see for the next three years.
21:08
Speaker 1: Thank you very much, mister Secretary.
21:09
Speaker 2: I'll begin with the questioning, and one of the first
21:12
Speaker 2: things I'd like to talk to you about is actually
21:14
Speaker 2: something that is under the auspices of CMS, and I
21:18
Speaker 2: spoke with doctor Oz last night about this. I'm sure
21:20
Speaker 2: you're very familiar with it though, and that is that
21:23
Speaker 2: in the One Big Beautiful Bill, there's a lot of
21:28
Speaker 2: attacks right now going on publicly about hospitals are in
21:31
Speaker 2: trouble and the blame for that is placed on the bill,
21:35
Speaker 2: even though the bill hasn't.
21:36
Speaker 1: Even been implemented yet.
21:39
Speaker 2: The fact is this committee held hearings on the troubles
21:43
Speaker 2: that rural hospitals are facing in the United States before
21:48
Speaker 2: the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill. They've been
21:50
Speaker 2: facing difficulties in rural America for a number of years now,
21:55
Speaker 2: and the bill, the One Big Beautiful Bill, contained a
21:59
Speaker 2: Rural Health Transformation program which I would just like to
22:03
Speaker 2: ask you to comment on. This is the program which
22:06
Speaker 2: allocated fifty billion dollars over the next five years to
22:11
Speaker 2: our rural community hospitals in the United States to help
22:15
Speaker 2: them deal with some of the financial crises that they
22:17
Speaker 2: are facing in transition to more stability. Could you comment
22:21
Speaker 2: on that program that is in the One Big Beautiful build.
22:25
Speaker 6: Yeah, the Senator.
22:26
Speaker 5: One of President shrimes camp paying promises and one of
22:31
Speaker 5: the principal preoccupations not only of Republican senators when I
22:34
Speaker 5: did my confirmation hearing, but also almost equally among Democratic
22:39
Speaker 5: centators with the crisis and rural health. I have at
22:42
Speaker 5: one hundred and twenty Row Hospital has closed over the
22:45
Speaker 5: past ten years. These institutions are not just delivering health
22:50
Speaker 5: access to rural Americans. But the air economic senators, the
22:53
Speaker 5: air cultural centers, with those communities, they are often the
22:58
Speaker 5: largest employer.
22:59
Speaker 6: They are they are the.
23:05
Speaker 5: Highest paying jobs, and they are the centerpiece for those communities.
23:09
Speaker 5: So when they die, the communities collapse. And President Trump
23:12
Speaker 5: promised to do something about that, and he has delivered
23:15
Speaker 5: on that promise. Right now, we spend about six percent
23:20
Speaker 5: of Medicaid funding is sent to rural hospitals, a very
23:24
Speaker 5: very tiny slice, and that's one of the reasons they're
23:26
Speaker 5: in trouble. President Trump is now allocated through the one
23:30
Speaker 5: big beautiful Bill of fifty billion dollars, so ten billion
23:33
Speaker 5: dollars a year over the next five years, we give
23:37
Speaker 5: the rural hospitals. That six percent represents nineteen billion a year,
23:42
Speaker 5: So we're increasing that by ten billion dollars. So we're
23:46
Speaker 5: we're infusing more than fifty percent increase in the amount
23:50
Speaker 5: of money that is going to rural communities over the
23:53
Speaker 5: next five years. There's never been anything like that in history.
23:56
Speaker 5: It is the biggest investment and it should.
23:59
Speaker 2: Stem this or well, thank you, I appreciate your giving
24:03
Speaker 2: clarity to that, because it is frustrating to see these
24:07
Speaker 2: continuous allegations that the difficulties that our rural hospitals are
24:12
Speaker 2: facing all were created in the last few months when
24:15
Speaker 2: we passed a bill, when we've been holding hearings in
24:18
Speaker 2: this committee about these problems. And in the bill that
24:22
Speaker 2: we passed, we gave a fifty billion dollar boost to,
24:25
Speaker 2: as you indicated, increased by fifty percent the federal support
24:29
Speaker 2: for our community rural hospitals in the United States. And
24:35
Speaker 2: I think that the hospital owners understand that they recognize
24:38
Speaker 2: this support. In fact, they are coming very They're coming
24:42
Speaker 2: together very carefully with doctor Oz to work on the
24:46
Speaker 2: rollout of this program so that we can see this
24:48
Speaker 2: boost and this support that is coming. Just another one
24:52
Speaker 2: of the disagreements we have about what really was in
24:56
Speaker 2: the One Big, Beautiful Bill. So I appreciate you commenting
24:59
Speaker 2: on that in the wa the last few in the
25:01
Speaker 2: last minute and ten seconds that I have with you,
25:04
Speaker 2: could you just quickly talk once again about the broad
25:07
Speaker 2: issue of making America healthy again, in terms of our
25:10
Speaker 2: aim to change the healthcare system's focus from a reactive
25:14
Speaker 2: symptom management model to one that focuses on lifestyle choices
25:18
Speaker 2: and the root causes of chronic disease.
25:22
Speaker 5: Yes, Senator, you know this morning I got the latest
25:27
Speaker 5: numbers from CDCA that seventy six point four percent of
25:32
Speaker 5: Americans now have a chronic disease.
25:35
Speaker 6: This is stunning.
25:37
Speaker 5: My uncle was president, was eleven percent, nineteen fifty was
25:40
Speaker 5: three percent, A seventy six point four percent eighty five.
25:47
Speaker 5: Eight out of ten of our kids cannot qualify for
25:49
Speaker 5: military service.
25:51
Speaker 6: This is a national security issue.
25:52
Speaker 5: When my uncle was president, we spent zero on chronic
25:55
Speaker 5: disease A we spend one point three trillion dollars.
26:00
Speaker 6: It's the biggest cause. It's increasing.
26:02
Speaker 5: And all of the arguments that Republicans and Democrats have
26:06
Speaker 5: about a single payer Obamacare, or with the various ways
26:11
Speaker 5: of allocate the health dollars, they are all like rearranging
26:14
Speaker 5: deck chairs on the Titanic.
26:16
Speaker 6: If we don't.
26:17
Speaker 5: End this chronic we are the sickest country in the world.
26:21
Speaker 5: That's why we have to fire people at CDC. They
26:24
Speaker 5: did not do their job. This was their job to
26:28
Speaker 5: keep us healthy.
26:29
Speaker 1: Thank you.
26:30
Speaker 5: I need to fire some of those people to make
26:32
Speaker 5: sure this doesn't happen again.
26:34
Speaker 1: Thank you, mister Secretary. I have to cut myself off
26:36
Speaker 1: to make sure I keep to this time frame.
26:37
Speaker 3: Too, Senator Way, thank you very much. Chairman.
26:40
Speaker 4: I've made it clear I think that Secretary Kennedy is
26:45
Speaker 4: dead set on making it harder for children to get
26:47
Speaker 4: vaccines and that kids are.
26:49
Speaker 3: Going to die because of it.
26:51
Speaker 4: And miss Chairman, I'd like to put in the record
26:53
Speaker 4: today an op ed written by Susan Manarz, who was
26:57
Speaker 4: fired by mister.
26:58
Speaker 1: Kennedy without objection.
27:01
Speaker 4: So what we know and doctor manares you know is
27:07
Speaker 4: approved by Republicans. She wrote a op ed today in
27:11
Speaker 4: the Wall Street Journal, which I've just put in the record,
27:13
Speaker 4: and I quote her. She said, I was told to
27:17
Speaker 4: preapprove the recommendations of a vaccine advisory panel newly filled
27:22
Speaker 4: with people who have publicly expressed anti vaccine rhetoric. So
27:28
Speaker 4: this is not some liberal philosopher or something. This is
27:33
Speaker 4: the CDC director who tells the Wall Street Journal, which
27:36
Speaker 4: is not exactly interested in progressive you know, theories and
27:41
Speaker 4: the like, that she was told to pre approve the
27:44
Speaker 4: recommendations of a vaccine advisory panel filled with people who've
27:49
Speaker 4: publicly expressed anti vaccine rhetoric. So my first question, mister secretary,
27:54
Speaker 4: is did you in fact do what Director Manaras said
27:58
Speaker 4: you did, which is tell her to just go along
28:01
Speaker 4: with vaccine recommendations even if she didn't think such recommendations
28:05
Speaker 4: aligned with scientific evidence.
28:08
Speaker 7: I did not.
28:08
Speaker 3: Yes, that's a yes or no.
28:10
Speaker 4: So you have an opportunity to call her a liar
28:12
Speaker 4: if you say that you didn't do it.
28:15
Speaker 3: But I'd like to see you respond to this.
28:17
Speaker 7: Yeah.
28:18
Speaker 5: No, I did not say that to her, And I
28:21
Speaker 5: never had a private meeting with her. Other witnesses to
28:25
Speaker 5: every meeting that we have, and all those witnesses will
28:28
Speaker 5: say I never said that.
28:30
Speaker 4: So she's lying today to the American people on the
28:33
Speaker 4: Wall Street Journal. Yes, sir, okay, let's talk now about
28:37
Speaker 4: what's coming up, because I've made it clear what I've
28:41
Speaker 4: thought about the two hundred and three you know days
28:43
Speaker 4: with my colleagues Center also Brooks. In two weeks, CDC's
28:47
Speaker 4: Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices will meet to make decisions
28:51
Speaker 4: about critical vaccines that protect us against hepatitis, being.
28:55
Speaker 3: Measles, and more.
28:56
Speaker 4: The committee's got a profound impact on fact seeing access.
29:01
Speaker 3: But these aren't ordinary meetings.
29:03
Speaker 4: You stacked the deck to ensure the panel benefits bends
29:07
Speaker 4: to your views. In June, you fired all seventeen committee
29:10
Speaker 4: members who were respected scientists and doctors. You replace them
29:14
Speaker 4: with non experts, vaccine skeptics, and conspiracy theorists. As a result,
29:19
Speaker 4: this critical advisory panel has lost scientific credibility after years, colleagues,
29:26
Speaker 4: we spend so much time not looking at this as
29:29
Speaker 4: Democrats and Republicans, but it's good science and scientific credibility.
29:34
Speaker 4: And now the American Academy of Pediatrics has warned that
29:38
Speaker 4: the committee is being politicized at the expense of children's health.
29:44
Speaker 4: American Academy of Pediatrics, you think they're lying to I.
29:50
Speaker 5: Think the American Academy of Pediatrics is gravely conflicted.
29:55
Speaker 7: Thank ed.
29:57
Speaker 5: Their biggest contributors are the four largest facts scene makers.
30:01
Speaker 5: They run a journal Pediatrics, which they make a lot
30:04
Speaker 5: of money on, that is completely dependent on pharmaceutical companies.
30:07
Speaker 5: So I don't think I wouldn't put a big stake
30:11
Speaker 5: in what they say that benefits pharmaceutical address, Senator, I
30:16
Speaker 5: didn't politicize, he said, but I depoliticize it. The Congress has.
30:22
Speaker 4: He's all over the country, mister Secretary, scientists and doctors
30:27
Speaker 4: are saying otherwise.
30:28
Speaker 3: They're all wrong too, They're all lying.
30:30
Speaker 5: According to you, a scientist, doctors that are supporting me
30:33
Speaker 5: all over the country.
30:35
Speaker 6: Oh there is division on opinion.
30:37
Speaker 3: I don't.
30:37
Speaker 4: I don't get letters from thousands of people who are not.
30:41
Speaker 3: Political saying that this set.
30:44
Speaker 4: Of changes is going to damage American healthcare and particularly
30:48
Speaker 4: these healthcare agencies for decades to come.
30:51
Speaker 3: I don't get any.
30:51
Speaker 4: Letters'll say, Oh, he's going to make a big difference forever.
30:55
Speaker 6: And maybe you're listening to a selective group of people.
30:58
Speaker 5: You get me see and I will find I will
31:02
Speaker 5: tell you what, Senator, I will put my mail bag
31:05
Speaker 5: against your mail bag.
31:06
Speaker 3: I got day, I got thirty seconds.
31:09
Speaker 4: Dangerous respiratory viruses like RSV are on the agenda for
31:15
Speaker 4: the next advisory meeting. Countless parents have been awakened in
31:19
Speaker 4: the dead and night by a wheezing kid, gasping for air,
31:22
Speaker 4: forced to rush their little one to the er.
31:24
Speaker 3: There's no worse heart wrenching fear.
31:27
Speaker 4: The RSB vaccine offers these kids protection against the worst
31:31
Speaker 4: effects of the virus. But now it looks like you're
31:34
Speaker 4: on a crusade to make infants and babies more vulnerable
31:38
Speaker 4: to the terrible illness.
31:39
Speaker 3: That's what we're doing with the COVID changes.
31:43
Speaker 1: And please make your answer brief. Mister Secretary, I've said that.
31:48
Speaker 3: A possession is indefensible. I think it's.
31:50
Speaker 5: Possible Congress has been investigating that committee for twenty three
31:54
Speaker 5: years because it is it is pervaded with conflicts of interest.
31:58
Speaker 5: Well we did as we got rid of the conflicts
32:02
Speaker 5: of antest when we put we depoliticize it and put
32:05
Speaker 5: great scientists on it from a very diverse group.
32:08
Speaker 6: Let me close.
32:10
Speaker 4: Let me close with this because, like Senator Craig Baumer
32:13
Speaker 4: a few seconds over, I don't think, mister Secretary, this is.
32:16
Speaker 3: About you and me.
32:18
Speaker 4: This is about kids being pushed in harm's way by
32:22
Speaker 4: reckless and repeated decisions to get scientists and doctors out
32:26
Speaker 4: of the way and allow conspiracy theories to dictate this
32:30
Speaker 4: country's health policy. I don't see any evidence that you
32:33
Speaker 4: have any regrets about anything you've done or plans to
32:36
Speaker 4: change it. And my last comment is I hope that
32:40
Speaker 4: you will tell the American people how many preventable child
32:44
Speaker 4: deaths are an acceptable sacrifice for enacting an agenda that
32:49
Speaker 4: I think is fundamentally cruel and defies common sense.
32:53
Speaker 5: Thank you to Germany. I do I got a reply. Senaty,
32:58
Speaker 5: You've sat in that chair for how long? Twenty twenty
33:02
Speaker 5: five years while the chronic disease and our children went
33:05
Speaker 5: up to seventy six percent, and you said nothing. You
33:09
Speaker 5: never asked the question why it's happening. Why is this
33:12
Speaker 5: happening today? For the first time in twenty years, I'm
33:16
Speaker 5: gonna learn that infant mortality has increased in our country.
33:19
Speaker 6: It's not because I came in here.
33:21
Speaker 5: It's because of what happened during the Biden administration that
33:23
Speaker 5: we're gonna end.
33:24
Speaker 2: I'm gonna let Senator Widen respond briefly to that, and
33:28
Speaker 2: then we're not gonna go over like we just did this.
33:31
Speaker 3: Committee on a bipartisan basis.
33:33
Speaker 4: Colleague, colleagues, might Cabinet Secretary says.
33:38
Speaker 3: That we have no interest in chronic cares.
33:40
Speaker 8: Secretary Chairman, could we have regular order, please.
33:43
Speaker 4: The process of turning around the Medicare program with the
33:46
Speaker 4: chroniccare build a Chairman hash when.
33:48
Speaker 3: He was chairman in this committee, mark on the bi
33:50
Speaker 3: parts and base.
33:51
Speaker 2: All right, we're gonna proceed, and I don't just want
33:54
Speaker 2: the rest of the members to know.
33:55
Speaker 1: I gave Senator Whiten as ranking.
33:56
Speaker 2: Members some leeway there, but we're gonna stick to the
34:00
Speaker 2: five minutes center.
34:03
Speaker 6: First of all, thank you.
34:05
Speaker 9: I have asked HH secretaries in the past to fully
34:10
Speaker 9: utilize the Rural Community Hospital Demonstration Program under Medicare. The
34:15
Speaker 9: program has been underutilized. In May, the cms filled the
34:22
Speaker 9: open slots. Thanks to your agency's work, there's been ten
34:26
Speaker 9: more rural hospitals in the program. It's important that the
34:30
Speaker 9: federal government uses every tool possible to help rural hospitals,
34:36
Speaker 9: and thank you for making that possible. Now to my questions.
34:42
Speaker 9: Back in January, during your confirmation hearing, you told me
34:46
Speaker 9: that you agreed to leave farming regulations to the Department
34:50
Speaker 9: of Agriculture and EPA. Do you think that any comments
34:55
Speaker 9: you have made since your confirmation on topics dealing with
35:00
Speaker 9: with agriculture are consistent with what you said in January
35:03
Speaker 9: The USDA and EPA ought to be regulating farming, and
35:08
Speaker 9: that the Department Health and Human Services should not seek
35:12
Speaker 9: to regulate farms, the tools they use, or the markets
35:17
Speaker 9: that they sell into.
35:19
Speaker 6: Yes, Senator, we.
35:23
Speaker 5: Are working very very closely with brok Rawlins and with
35:26
Speaker 5: the agricultural community. We've met with over one hundred and
35:32
Speaker 5: forty farm interests over the past three months to incorporate
35:39
Speaker 5: them to make sure that the MAH agenda is consistent
35:43
Speaker 5: with their agenda. We are producing the best food in America.
35:47
Speaker 5: That we're protecting our soils and our soil microbiome, and
35:51
Speaker 5: now we're protecting all kinds of farmers and including those
35:55
Speaker 5: who want to transition to regenerative agriculture. We're consulting every
36:00
Speaker 5: stakeholder in the farm community and everything that we do.
36:07
Speaker 9: I just raised the question because farmers in my state
36:12
Speaker 9: have been discerned about some of the things you're saying.
36:16
Speaker 6: I can't hear you.
36:18
Speaker 9: I'm sorry.
36:20
Speaker 1: Some of the.
36:20
Speaker 9: Farmers in my state have been raising questions about some
36:23
Speaker 9: of the things that they think you said, whether it
36:26
Speaker 9: was out of context or not. I just thought i'd
36:28
Speaker 9: raised this question so that you would keep by what
36:32
Speaker 9: you told us back in January at your confirmation hearing. Now,
36:38
Speaker 9: Senator Durbin and I have a biparts of bill that
36:41
Speaker 9: requires price disclosures on tv ads. Price transparency is important
36:48
Speaker 9: in drug advertisement. I know that President Trump, Vice President
36:53
Speaker 9: of Vance, and you are all supportive of this effort.
36:56
Speaker 9: When can I expect action from this adminitised stration on
37:01
Speaker 9: requiring drug companies to publish the price of drugs and
37:05
Speaker 9: their tv ads. And just in case you would tell
37:09
Speaker 9: me that you don't think you have that authority, can
37:12
Speaker 9: you help Senator Durbin and I on our bill so
37:15
Speaker 9: that we can ensure that you have legal authority to
37:18
Speaker 9: require price disclosure.
37:22
Speaker 5: Senator, I think it would be good for us to
37:25
Speaker 5: talk about this offline. We are working on this in
37:30
Speaker 5: our agency, and I'm happy to tell you give you
37:35
Speaker 5: the details what we're doing.
37:38
Speaker 9: Okay, I've got a question here on transport transplant. Senator
37:50
Speaker 9: Kennedy and I have been working our Senator, Senator Wide
37:56
Speaker 9: and I have been working on this for nearly a
37:59
Speaker 9: two decks. AIDS. I've engaged in a bipartisan oversight of
38:02
Speaker 9: the organ transplant system. Herissa has developed a tool to
38:09
Speaker 9: combat transplant line skipping. I hope that you can take
38:15
Speaker 9: steps to make sure that these steps are being taken
38:21
Speaker 9: by HHS and Harissa to curb transplant line skipping. On
38:27
Speaker 9: July the second, Senator Wyden and I wrote you a
38:31
Speaker 9: letter highlighting cases of opos in Mississippi and Kentucky.
38:36
Speaker 7: In each of these cases.
38:39
Speaker 9: OPO allegedly tried to harvest organs from patients still showing
38:45
Speaker 9: signs of life. I expect you to take steps from
38:50
Speaker 9: through these organizations to ensure that this doesn't happen again.
38:57
Speaker 5: We have mounted a major investigation of misconduct, of illegal behavior,
39:03
Speaker 5: of harvesting of living people of line, skipping, a favoritism,
39:11
Speaker 5: of all kinds of scandalous behavior inside the organ procurement organizations.
39:18
Speaker 5: We have already ended the contract, terminated the contract.
39:21
Speaker 6: To this old source provider.
39:23
Speaker 5: We are reorganizing the entire industry so that this can
39:26
Speaker 5: never happen again. I'm happy to go into the details
39:29
Speaker 5: with you if I had more time.
39:31
Speaker 1: Thank you, Senator Cornyon.
39:35
Speaker 8: Mister Secretary of the United States spends approximately eighteen percent
39:40
Speaker 8: of our GDP on healthcare, and yet by most accounts,
39:46
Speaker 8: we rank roughly tenth in the world in terms of
39:50
Speaker 8: a healthcare outcome. Our Democratic colleagues seem to think the
39:54
Speaker 8: more money you spend, you're necessarily going to.
39:57
Speaker 6: Improve those outcomes.
40:00
Speaker 8: But at the same time, we have the two major
40:04
Speaker 8: drivers of our national debt, social Security and Medicare. While
40:10
Speaker 8: we spend more money on interest on the national debt
40:14
Speaker 8: than we do are in the defense of the nation,
40:16
Speaker 8: which is an unsustainable trajectory. What is it that you're
40:21
Speaker 8: doing to address the effectiveness and the outcomes of our
40:26
Speaker 8: health care expenditures as opposed to just throwing more money
40:30
Speaker 8: at the problem.
40:31
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean throwing money at the problem is not
40:33
Speaker 5: at work. We spend due to three times per capital
40:37
Speaker 5: European nations spend on healthcare, and we have the worst
40:42
Speaker 5: health outcome. We're seventy ninth and healthcare outcomes globally over
40:48
Speaker 5: the past twenty years, we've lost or thirty years. We've
40:51
Speaker 5: lost six years to Europe in terms of longevity, So
40:55
Speaker 5: our lifespan is even with Europe's now at six years behind.
40:59
Speaker 5: As I said too, as remarked to Chairman White, and
41:03
Speaker 5: this morning we're Minority Leader Biden the Today we got
41:08
Speaker 5: new data that showed that infant mortality has increased in
41:13
Speaker 5: this country in twenty twenty four, the first time in
41:17
Speaker 5: twenty years. We've diabetes has gone up ninety eight percent
41:20
Speaker 5: twenty years. Nobody's doing anything about it. CDC's job was
41:26
Speaker 5: to make sure that this didn't happen. And what we're
41:29
Speaker 5: going to do is reorganize CDC. But also we've already
41:33
Speaker 5: righted the ship at NIH, at FDA, at CMS, and
41:37
Speaker 5: we are going to end the chronic disease epidemic.
41:39
Speaker 6: We are we are devoting thousands of studies.
41:44
Speaker 5: We're going to vote to foot too identifying the causes,
41:47
Speaker 5: and we're eliminating them. And we're already starting. We're not
41:50
Speaker 5: waiting for everything to come in. We are starting now.
41:53
Speaker 5: We're doing this with food dyes, with grass stands, with
41:57
Speaker 5: dietary guidelines. We're going to get better food and better
42:00
Speaker 5: health in the American public because it's chronic disease and
42:04
Speaker 5: its bankrupting us and destroying our national security.
42:10
Speaker 8: Seems to be one of the biggest problems that we
42:13
Speaker 8: have in America today is the trustworthiness of the information
42:17
Speaker 8: that we actually receive from the news media and from
42:22
Speaker 8: any other source. And obviously the easiest thing for our
42:26
Speaker 8: democratic colleagues to do is to scare people, because that
42:30
Speaker 8: is a powerful emotion, no matter what the what the
42:35
Speaker 8: what the facts may be. Do you believe COVID nineteen
42:42
Speaker 8: was politicized.
42:44
Speaker 5: Yeah, the whole process was politicized, Senator. I mean we
42:49
Speaker 5: were lied to about everything. We were lied to about
42:53
Speaker 5: about natural immunity.
42:55
Speaker 6: We're lied to about.
42:56
Speaker 5: You know, we were told again and again the vaccines
42:58
Speaker 5: we prevent transmission, prevent infection.
43:01
Speaker 6: It wasn't true. They knew it from the start.
43:03
Speaker 5: It wasn't true because that's what the animal studies in
43:06
Speaker 5: the clinical trial showed. We were told that there was
43:10
Speaker 5: science behind cloth mass. The CDC allowed the teachers union
43:17
Speaker 5: to write the order closing our schools, which hurt working
43:22
Speaker 5: people all over the country, and then pretend it was
43:24
Speaker 5: science based all of these issues, and then I can
43:28
Speaker 5: show you, like for example, Chairman Widen was talking about
43:33
Speaker 5: me politicizing ACIP during COVID. The probably the most famous
43:39
Speaker 5: scientists on ACIP was Martin Colder from Harvard, the great
43:43
Speaker 5: now world renown to epidemiologists and vaccinologists, and he criticized
43:49
Speaker 5: the COVID booster mandates. They ejected him from COVID because
43:53
Speaker 5: he wasn't in the orthotoxy. The two biggest health officials
43:58
Speaker 5: that have thea during COVID, doctor Kruper and doctor Crowns,
44:03
Speaker 5: criticized the Biden mandates vaccine made. You know, President Biden
44:07
Speaker 5: said in August, I would never take that vaccine, the
44:10
Speaker 5: Trump vaccine, and he came in he mandated it, and
44:14
Speaker 5: then he fired the two top health officials FDA who said, hey,
44:18
Speaker 5: this thing has not been properly tested. So the whole
44:21
Speaker 5: process was politicized even today.
44:23
Speaker 8: So let me I'm fifteen seconds. So I think you answered, yes,
44:28
Speaker 8: it was politicize. And does I have concerns that when
44:34
Speaker 8: you look at some of these the conflicts of interest
44:37
Speaker 8: in peer reviewed articles and professional journals, and when you
44:41
Speaker 8: point out that even some of the physician associations are
44:45
Speaker 8: conflicted because of the money they get from the pharmaceutical industry,
44:49
Speaker 8: are you committed to trying to make sure that we
44:52
Speaker 8: use the best science and separate and eliminate politics as
44:57
Speaker 8: much as possible.
44:58
Speaker 5: That is well, my job is, That's what my mission is,
45:01
Speaker 5: eliminate the politics from science.
45:04
Speaker 1: Senator Vennette, Miss Secretary.
45:08
Speaker 10: In June, you fired every member, Miss secretary, you, miss Secretary,
45:14
Speaker 10: I have my time back, Mister chairman, thank you, Miss secretary,
45:20
Speaker 10: Thank you for your attention. In June, you fired every
45:23
Speaker 10: member of the Well Qualified Panel it was charged with recommending.
45:27
Speaker 1: Vaccines to the CDC.
45:30
Speaker 10: No one in your job has ever fired every committee
45:33
Speaker 10: member all at once. That month, you told the American
45:38
Speaker 10: people that you were quote going to bring great people
45:41
Speaker 10: onto the ACE panel, not anti vaxers. Are you aware
45:46
Speaker 10: that one of the people you put on the panel,
45:48
Speaker 10: doctor Robert Malone, claimed that the commonly used mRNA vaccine
45:54
Speaker 10: quote causes a form of AIDS and can damage children's
45:59
Speaker 10: quote brand, their heart, their immune system, and their ability
46:03
Speaker 10: to have children in the future.
46:06
Speaker 7: Yes or no, mister Kennedy.
46:08
Speaker 6: And doctor Malone is one of the inventor.
46:10
Speaker 7: No, Yes or no?
46:11
Speaker 10: Are you Were you aware that he had that view
46:13
Speaker 10: when you appointed him to this panel?
46:15
Speaker 6: Doctor Malone is.
46:18
Speaker 5: As I said, doctor malan inventors of the r's.
46:24
Speaker 7: Statement.
46:25
Speaker 10: Mister Chairman, that statement is not true that doctor Malone made,
46:31
Speaker 10: just as it wasn't true when you wrote the quote.
46:33
Speaker 10: African AIDS is entirely.
46:36
Speaker 7: Different from Western AIDS.
46:39
Speaker 10: Are you aware that another one of these new members,
46:43
Speaker 10: doctor Levy, wrote that quote. Evidence is mounting and indisputable
46:48
Speaker 10: that mr NA vaccines caused serious harm, including death, especially
46:54
Speaker 10: among young people.
46:56
Speaker 7: Yes or no? Are you aware that he said that?
46:58
Speaker 6: I wasn't aware of Is that about it? And I
47:00
Speaker 6: agree with it?
47:01
Speaker 10: You agree with it. It's not true. It wasn't true
47:04
Speaker 10: when he said it. It is not true when you
47:06
Speaker 10: said it, Secretary Month.
47:08
Speaker 7: Secretary Kenny.
47:09
Speaker 10: Later this month, your new panel will meet to consider
47:13
Speaker 10: changing vaccine recommendations for American children. In addition to the
47:18
Speaker 10: COVID nineteen vaccines, they are set to review recommendations for
47:23
Speaker 10: the hepatitis B vaccine, for measles for months, for rubella
47:27
Speaker 10: and vericella vaccine, and the RSV vaccine. These are common
47:33
Speaker 10: back to school vaccinations for children all over the industrialized world.
47:40
Speaker 10: If you change that, you owe parents in Colorado and
47:44
Speaker 10: across the country the benefit of some transparency. I think
47:50
Speaker 10: if your panel recommends changing the vaccine schedule for children,
47:54
Speaker 10: do you anticipate that fewer children will receive these common
47:58
Speaker 10: vaccine vaccinatesations?
48:00
Speaker 7: Yes or no?
48:02
Speaker 6: What I would say, Senator.
48:04
Speaker 10: The obvious answers yes. Should parents and schools of Colorado
48:09
Speaker 10: be prepared for more measles outbreaks as a result of that,
48:13
Speaker 10: Mister Secretary Senator.
48:16
Speaker 7: How about more months outbreaks?
48:18
Speaker 5: I own, I do not anticipate a change in the
48:22
Speaker 5: MMR vaccine. You know, as it is an independent panel.
48:27
Speaker 10: Well, it's a panel you just put those folks on.
48:30
Speaker 7: Far from what you said, there are people with.
48:35
Speaker 10: Ideas that are completely outside the mainstream.
48:38
Speaker 6: I mean out of the pharmaceutical paradise.
48:40
Speaker 10: Let me just say, mister Secretary, all these vaccines that
48:43
Speaker 10: we're talking about today are free and accessible to parents
48:47
Speaker 10: today in America who have the freedom to be able
48:51
Speaker 10: to make that choice for their children. Will that be
48:54
Speaker 10: true after your handpick panel makes their judgments about these vaccines.
49:00
Speaker 6: That parents should be free.
49:03
Speaker 10: I know you said that before I do too your choices,
49:07
Speaker 10: So will they be just as free after these I
49:13
Speaker 10: will hold you to that, Secretary Kennedy, because this is
49:17
Speaker 10: not a podcast. It is the American people's health that's
49:21
Speaker 10: on the line here. This is the last thing, by
49:24
Speaker 10: the way, our parents need when their kids are going
49:27
Speaker 10: back to school is to have the kind of confusion
49:31
Speaker 10: and expense and scarcity that you're creating as a result
49:36
Speaker 10: of your ideology. I think it's critical for you to
49:41
Speaker 10: share the evidence that this.
49:43
Speaker 7: Panel will rely on.
49:45
Speaker 10: Will you give the American people six months or six
49:48
Speaker 10: weeks in advance the record that they're going to rely
49:51
Speaker 10: on to make these decisions. Will you make it transparent
49:54
Speaker 10: for the American peoplesparent? Will you make it an advance
49:59
Speaker 10: transparent for the American people?
50:00
Speaker 5: They can all the evidence that's Transpenner for the first
50:04
Speaker 5: time in history, and you were never there complaining when
50:06
Speaker 5: the pharmaceutical companies were picking those people.
50:09
Speaker 6: And then running their products route with those If.
50:11
Speaker 10: You can make you can characterize it any way you want.
50:14
Speaker 10: I quoted them today. What I said was accurate, What
50:18
Speaker 10: you said were live.
50:20
Speaker 7: You just Senator moving the type are you n R.
50:27
Speaker 5: Has never been as I was hit with my card
50:29
Speaker 5: iis or para cardis, And I am saying, I am
50:32
Speaker 5: simply you're trying to tell her.
50:34
Speaker 10: I am simply trying to say that the people that
50:37
Speaker 10: you have put on that panel after firing the entire
50:42
Speaker 10: failing the question you No, I'm asking the questions here,
50:45
Speaker 10: you're fating that question. I'm asking the questions I ask
50:49
Speaker 10: Kennedy question. I'm asking the questions for mister Kennedy on
50:52
Speaker 10: behalf of parents and schools and teachers all over the
50:58
Speaker 10: United States of America who deserve so much better than
51:02
Speaker 10: your leadership. That's what this conversation is about them.
51:07
Speaker 5: They deserve the truth, and that's what we're going to
51:10
Speaker 5: give them for the first time.
51:11
Speaker 6: And the history of that agency.
51:18
Speaker 1: Senator Cassidy, thank you.
51:20
Speaker 11: I'll try and restore a little calm here, and I'm
51:23
Speaker 11: approaching this as a doctor, not as a senator. I
51:26
Speaker 11: am concerned about children's health, seniors health, all of our health,
51:30
Speaker 11: and I applaud you for joining the president and a
51:32
Speaker 11: call for radical transparency.
51:35
Speaker 12: Thank you for that. I said yesterday, I.
51:38
Speaker 11: Believe it that President Trump deserves a Nobel Prize for
51:41
Speaker 11: Operation Warp Speed.
51:43
Speaker 12: If he had been President Obama, he would have gotten it.
51:46
Speaker 11: But because of Operation Warp Speed forcing the federal government
51:49
Speaker 11: to come to a vaccine development within ten months when
51:51
Speaker 11: others said it couldn't be done, we saved millions of
51:54
Speaker 11: lives globally, trillions of dollars.
51:56
Speaker 12: We reopened economy. Economy's an incredible accomplishment. Mister secretary, do
52:01
Speaker 12: you agree with me that.
52:02
Speaker 11: The president, that the President deserves a Nobel Prize.
52:06
Speaker 12: For Operation Warp Speed?
52:07
Speaker 6: Absolutely?
52:09
Speaker 12: Let me ask you.
52:11
Speaker 11: But you just told Senator Bennett that the COVID vaccine
52:16
Speaker 11: killed more people than COVID.
52:19
Speaker 12: Wait, that was a state.
52:20
Speaker 6: I did not say that.
52:21
Speaker 11: Okay, then let me ask because you also the senator.
52:24
Speaker 6: I just want to make clear, we'll.
52:27
Speaker 12: Check the record. That's a question of fact.
52:29
Speaker 11: You also said that you were also as lead attorney
52:33
Speaker 11: for the Children's Health Defense, you engage in multiple lawsuits
52:37
Speaker 11: attempting to restrict access to the COVID vaccine. Again, it
52:41
Speaker 11: surprises me that you think so highly of Operation Warp
52:44
Speaker 11: Speed when as an attorney you attempted to restrict access.
52:49
Speaker 5: I'm happy, I'm happy to explain why I had.
52:54
Speaker 12: Three minutes and thirty seconds left.
52:57
Speaker 11: It also surprises me because you can't sold or HJS did,
53:01
Speaker 11: but apparently, under your direction five hundred million dollars in
53:05
Speaker 11: contracts using the mr NA vaccine platform that was critical
53:11
Speaker 11: to Operation Warp Speed. Again an accomplishment that I think
53:15
Speaker 11: President Trump should get a Nobel price form. You canceled
53:18
Speaker 11: five hundred million in contracts. Now, I grew up in
53:24
Speaker 11: a middle class family, so five hundred million dollars seems
53:26
Speaker 11: dis canceled. It seems like an incredible waste of money.
53:29
Speaker 11: But it also seems like a commentary upon what the
53:33
Speaker 11: president was attempting.
53:34
Speaker 12: What the President did an.
53:36
Speaker 11: Operation Warp Speed, which is to create a platform by
53:38
Speaker 11: which to create vaccines.
53:42
Speaker 12: So this just seems inconsistent that you would agree with me.
53:45
Speaker 11: The President deserves a tremendous amount of credit.
53:47
Speaker 5: For this is the question or is this a speech
53:52
Speaker 5: you don't want me?
53:52
Speaker 6: I want to answer that question, please please, if it's
53:55
Speaker 6: a question b.
53:57
Speaker 5: Type, please First all, the reason that operation warp speed,
54:02
Speaker 5: which gene is is it.
54:04
Speaker 6: It's something nobody had ever been done.
54:05
Speaker 5: I don't think any president but President Trump could do it.
54:09
Speaker 5: It got the vaccine to Mark that was perfectly matched
54:12
Speaker 5: to the virus at that time when it was badly
54:14
Speaker 5: needed because there was low natural immunity and there were
54:18
Speaker 5: people getting very badly injured by COVID. And then but
54:22
Speaker 5: he was also it was also in therapeutics like a
54:25
Speaker 5: hydroxy clerk in an ivert max and protocols for treatments
54:30
Speaker 5: and all.
54:31
Speaker 6: And there were no mandates.
54:32
Speaker 12: And then okay, I had another question, so please about that.
54:35
Speaker 5: That's what I began litigating against President Biden's mandates.
54:40
Speaker 12: Now, so let me go on because.
54:43
Speaker 11: Those contracts I have limited time. Mister Secretary. I'm sorry
54:48
Speaker 11: you've called for, and rightly so, that we should restrict
54:52
Speaker 11: participation in agencies.
54:53
Speaker 12: For those with conflict of interest.
54:55
Speaker 11: I would like to submit for the record a evaluation
55:00
Speaker 11: to the conflict of interest of those who are on
55:02
Speaker 11: the ASIP and the vaccines the related Biologic Products Advisory Board.
55:06
Speaker 12: It was not ninety seven percent as alleged.
55:09
Speaker 11: Rather it was six point nine percent, and it was
55:11
Speaker 11: one point two percent I think for the other.
55:13
Speaker 1: Panel without objection.
55:15
Speaker 11: Now I am concerned though, because many of those whom
55:18
Speaker 11: you have nominated for the ACIP board.
55:20
Speaker 12: Excuse me, excuse me, excuse me. Can I have my
55:24
Speaker 12: time back?
55:25
Speaker 7: Yes?
55:25
Speaker 6: Yeh.
55:27
Speaker 11: What I am concerned about is that many of those
55:31
Speaker 11: whom you've nominated for a SIP have received revenue as
55:34
Speaker 11: serving as expert witnesses for plaintiff's attorneys suing suing vaccine makers. Now,
55:43
Speaker 11: one of my colleagues in another setting alleged that you
55:46
Speaker 11: see more interested in settlements than science.
55:49
Speaker 7: If we put.
55:50
Speaker 12: People who are paid witnesses for.
55:54
Speaker 11: Vaccine people suing vaccines, that actually seems like a conflict
55:58
Speaker 11: of interest.
55:59
Speaker 7: Real quickly, do you agree with that?
56:01
Speaker 6: No? I don't.
56:04
Speaker 5: It may it may be a bias, and that bias,
56:08
Speaker 5: if disclosed, is okay.
56:11
Speaker 11: It's not expert witness, it's not a financial Let me
56:16
Speaker 11: finish up.
56:16
Speaker 12: Let me finish up.
56:18
Speaker 11: You also told uh Senator Wyden at the outset that
56:23
Speaker 11: you didn't want to take vaccines away from people and
56:26
Speaker 11: as I conclude, I would like to say this because
56:29
Speaker 11: of the conflicting recommendations made by about COVID. This is
56:34
Speaker 11: from Eric Erickson, good conservative out of Atlanta, Georgia, occasionally
56:37
Speaker 11: gives me help. My wife has stage four lung cancer.
56:41
Speaker 11: She is one of the people that COVID vaccine actually helps.
56:44
Speaker 12: Thanks to the current.
56:45
Speaker 11: Mess at HHS, CBS is unable to get her a vaccine. Secondly,
56:49
Speaker 11: an email from h a physician friend of mine. Hey, Bill,
56:54
Speaker 11: I'm not even sure what I'm asking you, but we're
56:56
Speaker 11: all confused and concerned about who could get the COVID vaccine.
57:00
Speaker 11: We are having our attorney try and render an opinion,
57:02
Speaker 11: but there's no firm guidance and concerned about liability if
57:05
Speaker 11: vaccines are given to a patient requested but not on
57:07
Speaker 11: the current CDC list. Pharmacists are requiring a prescription now,
57:11
Speaker 11: even for patients over sixty five, creating a huge headache.
57:14
Speaker 1: I submit these for the record without objection.
57:17
Speaker 11: I would say, effectively, we're denying people vaccine.
57:19
Speaker 1: I hate Senator Catwill, I hate it wrong.
57:22
Speaker 13: Thank you, mister Chairman. Following up on that same line
57:25
Speaker 13: as Senator Cassidy, because that's exactly you know, I represent
57:28
Speaker 13: one of the most science based states in the country,
57:33
Speaker 13: that is percentage of scientists per capita. And at your
57:37
Speaker 13: confirmation hearing, we asked about this whether you would follow science.
57:41
Speaker 13: You've made a statement here today in your testimony that
57:43
Speaker 13: you would follow science, and yet you're not following science.
57:46
Speaker 13: And that's what Senator Cassidy's question was. It's a simple
57:49
Speaker 13: yes or no answer. Do you think the president deserves
57:53
Speaker 13: to get a prize for warp speed in the in
57:56
Speaker 13: the mr in A technology that saved so many lives?
58:00
Speaker 3: And you won't answer that question.
58:02
Speaker 6: I answered it no.
58:04
Speaker 13: You're saying that there are problems with what was interpreted.
58:07
Speaker 1: You could say yes, say the president.
58:10
Speaker 6: Deserves no about prize.
58:12
Speaker 5: But are m r NA vaccines that we're working on
58:15
Speaker 5: the ones that we canceled, which are for upper resiratory
58:18
Speaker 5: infections alone?
58:20
Speaker 6: You are those you.
58:22
Speaker 13: Canceled five hundred million dollars of research because them and
58:27
Speaker 13: r the mr in A technology is about continuing the
58:30
Speaker 13: research to be ready for the next flu influenza, the
58:35
Speaker 13: next pandemic, and you have to do the I'm.
58:38
Speaker 5: Happy to give we have a detailed discussion with you.
58:42
Speaker 13: You're so wrong in fact, you're you're interrupting me. And sir,
58:45
Speaker 13: you're a charlatan, that's what you are. You're the ones
58:47
Speaker 13: who conflate chronic disease with the need for vaccines. The
58:52
Speaker 13: history on vaccines is very clear. This is the twentieth century.
58:56
Speaker 13: That's how many people had vaccines and had illnesses. This
59:01
Speaker 13: is the twenty first century. This is the decrease ninety
59:05
Speaker 13: nine percent down to one hundred percent. This is what
59:08
Speaker 13: was delivered with vaccines. And you don't want to support that.
59:12
Speaker 13: You don't want to support that evidence. So, yes, the
59:14
Speaker 13: governors of the West, Washington, Oregon, and California will take
59:20
Speaker 13: up the efficacy of science. Yes, the University of Washington
59:23
Speaker 13: will deliver the science that America will depend on because
59:28
Speaker 13: you don't want to depend on it. And his own
59:30
Speaker 13: Surgeon General of the Trump administration said, over two million
59:36
Speaker 13: lives were saved because the mRNA technology, and you don't
59:40
Speaker 13: want to continue that. You don't want to continue that technology.
59:43
Speaker 13: So what country is going to now take up that
59:47
Speaker 13: technology lead? What country is going to do that? Leaving
59:51
Speaker 13: us more vulnerable to some other country keeping the advantage
59:55
Speaker 13: on having the best technology. So I'm telling you I
59:58
Speaker 13: represent a state that's a about technology.
1:00:00
Speaker 3: I have two other quick questions for you.
1:00:02
Speaker 5: There's questions are statements because I can answer that question
1:00:05
Speaker 5: if it's actually a question.
1:00:07
Speaker 3: Do you believe in