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RFK Jr. gets his first day before Congress

Heckles, jeers, applause, fiery exchanges, and some comic relief. 

Yesterday, the Senate Finance Committee held the first of two confirmation hearings for RFK Jr. Today it’s the Senate health committee’s turn, though only the Finance Committee actually votes on his nomination.

The room was full of supporters and opponents. RFK Jr. received loud applause as he entered, and exited, even for a mid-hearing bathroom break.

Democrats offered up some combative questions, according to Isabella Cueto’s report of the hearing. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren pointed to Kennedy’s financial ties to a law firm that has pursued litigation on vaccines. She asked if he would promise to forgo collecting legal fees from lawsuits against drug companies; Kennedy refused to do so. 

There were a couple of hecklers, too. At one point, after RFK Jr. insisted he supports vaccines, an audience member shouted “You lie.” She was hustled out of the hearing room by guards while his supporters cheered her ouster.

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Bernie made us laugh

Amid the drama and emotionally heavy talk about abortion and vaccines, Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I–Vt.) took some time to talk about baby onesies.

Sanders’ line of questioning ended with the Vermont Independent shouting the question: “Are you supportive of these onesies?” 

It wasn’t meant as comic relief. Sanders’ point was that RFK Jr. has profited from spreading doubts about vaccine safety. The Children’s Health Defense, a nonprofit that RFK Jr. chaired until last year, sells onesies for infants that say “Unvaxxed, Unafraid” and “No vax. No problem.”

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Seven things

There also were statistics, lots and lots of statistics, wrapped up in the sparring. 

Kennedy backtracked on his prior support for abortion, and accused senators of twisting his past remarks on vaccines.

Although Kennedy offered no concrete details for how he would tackle the nation’s chronic disease epidemic, seven main topics came up: Medicaid; abortion; drug prices; vaccines; campaign fundraising; food and nutrition; and RFK Jr.’s past controversial comments. Rachel Cohrs Zhang, Sarah Owermohle and Isa provide the details.