Murray: “If you think RFK Jr. will
change who he is, you are lying to yourself… If you do not draw a line
somewhere, you will cross every line you could ever imagine. You will be
pushed further and further into accepting things you never thought you
would—things you never thought you could.”
ICYMI:
In Senate Hearing, RFK Jr. Refuses to Say HPV Vaccine is Safe to Sen.
Patty Murray, Pressed on Credible Accusation of Sexual Assault
Murray, a longtime congressional leader on health care who has led hearings on addressing vaccine hesitancy, has been a leading vocal opponent of RFK Jr.’s nomination—speaking out on the Senate floor, holding events, raising the alarm after meeting with him
*** VIDEO of Senator Murray’s floor speech HERE***
Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray
(D-WA), a senior member and former Chair of the Senate Health,
Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, took to the Senate
floor to warn of the very real dangers that lie ahead if Republicans
insist on confirming RFK Jr. as Secretary of the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services (HHS) and urge her colleagues to “show some
courage… show some conscience” and vote against this nomination.
Murray laid out the many ways RFK Jr. could undermine vaccines as HHS
Secretary—as well as so much else that’s at stake with his
confirmation. Murray pointed out that, if confirmed, there will be
nothing stopping RFK Jr. from firing the CDC’s entire vaccine advisory
committee—responsible for making recommendations about vaccines and
indirectly determines which vaccines must be covered by insurance—and
replacing them all with vaccine skeptics. RFK Jr. will also oversee FDA,
another agency he has repeatedly tried to discredit and attack—and
where he has said he plans to fire hundreds of scientists on Day One.
“My colleagues should know better. They do know better,” said Murray on the Senate floor.
“But they are looking the other way. They are choosing to pretend like
it is in any way believable that RFK Jr. won’t use his new power to do exactly the thing he has been trying to do for decades—undermine vaccines.”
Murray spoke about how RFK Jr. will also have jurisdiction over NIH,
where he could redirect funds away from promising cures, or make good on
his plan to fire hundreds of researchers and pause infectious disease research. Pointing to Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s’ recent attacks on NIH biomedical research funding, Murray said: “At
a time when lifesaving research like this is already under attack from
the President and the richest man in the world, no one who truly values
medical research should vote to install one of the biggest attackers of
medical science as the Secretary of Health and Human Services.”
Murray also spoke about health insurance—another huge
responsibility for HHS. “Last time Trump was in office, we saw millions
of people lose their health coverage,” Murray said.
“The uninsured rate went up after years of hard-won progress, and we
all know he still wants to rip up the Affordable Care Act—driving up
costs and kicking people off their coverage. And there’s no reason to
think Mr. Kennedy will stand up to that effort. Indeed, there is no
reason to think he has the experience and understanding of the system to
do so. During his committee hearings, RFK Jr. confused Medicare and
Medicaid—basic stuff—and failed to describe the components of Medicare.”
Murray also hammered how RFK Jr. poses an enormous risk to
reproductive health care in America—pointing out that not only did RFK
Jr. confess to having no real understanding of the Department’s role in
enforcing Americans’ right to emergency care, but he showed he will be
totally open to Republicans’ efforts to rip away access to medication
abortion nationwide.
Also noting the danger of putting RFK Jr. in charge of pandemic threats, Murray emphasized that
“We cannot take this man at his word—something he has changed and gone
back and forth on time and again. But we can take him at his
record—which is that he has consistently undermined vaccine confidence
and even profited from it.”
“I cannot tell my colleagues enough: this isn’t a game, this
is not a political role without consequence, the Health Secretary has
real power over whether Americans can get basic information and care
that impacts whether they live or die,” Murray continued.
“So if my colleagues are feeling the pressure from President
Trump or if they are feeling the weight of the richest man in the world
on their backs, I would warn them: this will certainly not be
the last test we face here in the Senate… If you do not draw a line
somewhere, you will cross every line you could ever imagine. You will be
pushed further and further into accepting things you never thought you
would—things you never thought you could.
“I think most of my colleagues know what is really at stake
here. I think most of my colleagues know what sort of man RFK Jr. is and
what sort of damage he could do if confirmed. There are political
realities, we all get that—but there is also right and wrong… So, I urge
all my colleagues to show some courage. I urge them to show some
conscience. I urge them to join me in voting NO on RFK Jr.’s
nomination,” Murray concluded.
When President-elect Donald J. Trump first announced his intention to select Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Secretary of HHS, Murray immediately and forcefully condemned
the move—and she has consistently spoken out and laid out for her
colleagues the case against his nomination since, including in a lengthy
Senate floor speech earlier this month—VIDEO HERE. Murray met with RFK Jr. on January 15th and released a statement afterward reiterating her opposition to his nomination and urging her colleagues, “to
be honest with themselves about the stakes of putting one of the
anti-vaccine movement’s loudest, proudest champions in charge of HHS and
join me in opposing RFK Jr.’s nomination.” In December, Murray held a roundtable discussion
at UW Medicine on the importance of scientific research and
vaccines—especially for children—and spoke about how having RFK Jr. lead
HHS would threaten Americans’ health and safety. At the hearing on his nomination
before the Senate HELP Committee, Senator Murray pressed RFK Jr. to
acknowledge that the HPV vaccine was safe and effective—he would not—and
respond to credible accusations of sexual assault.
As a longtime appropriator and former Chair of the Senate HELP
Committee, Murray has long fought to boost biomedical research,
strengthen public health infrastructure, and make health care more
affordable and accessible. Over her years as a senior member of the
Appropriations Committee, she has secured billions of dollars in
increases for biomedical research at the National Institutes of Health,
and during her time as Chair of the HELP Committee she established the new ARPA-H research agency as part of her PREVENT Pandemics Act to
advance some of the most cutting-edge research in the field. As Chair
of the HELP Committee, Murray was also instrumental in crafting the American Rescue Plan Act, including its landmark investments in public health and health care. Senator Murray was also the lead Democratic negotiator of the bipartisan 21st Century Cures Act, which
delivered a major federal investment to boost NIH research, among many
other investments. Murray is also the lead sponsor of the Public Health Infrastructure Saves Lives Act
(PHISLA), legislation to establish $4.5 billion in dedicated, annual
funding for a grant program to build up and maintain the nation’s public
health system across the board.
In 2019, Senator Murray co-led a bipartisan hearing
in the HELP Committee on vaccine hesitancy and spoke about the
importance of addressing vaccine skepticism and getting people the facts
they need to keep their families and communities safe and healthy.
Ahead of the hearing, as multiple states were facing measles outbreaks
in under-vaccinated areas, Murray sent a bipartisan letter
with former HELP Committee Chair Lamar Alexander (R-TN) pressing the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director and HHS
Assistant Secretary for Health on their efforts to promote vaccination
and vaccine confidence.
Senator Murray’s full remarks on the Senate floor, as delivered are below and HERE:
“Mr. President, the American people are watching now with
alarm—because the vast majority of people know: vaccines are safe,
they’re effective, they are lifesaving.
But we are now on the verge of confirming, as our nation’s
highest health official, a man who has spent considerable time, money,
and effort undermining that basic fact.
“A man who has abused his platform by refusing to acknowledge the
well-established science that shows that vaccines arenot linked to
autism. Fear about that point—fueled by RFK Jr. and others peddling
misinformation—is a leading reason that parents do not get their kids
vaccinated against preventable, dangerous diseases.
“That’s why elevating a man like RFK Jr. to lead HHS would be so dangerous. Just giving him any
platform to spread vaccine doubt is dangerous. But to give him one of
the biggest megaphones in the world? It is truly shameful that we even
are debating this.
“My colleagues should know better. They actually do
know better. They are looking the other way. They are choosing to
pretend like it is in any way believable that RFK Jr. won’t use his new
power to do exactly the thing he has been trying to do for decades—undermine vaccines.
“Never mind the fact that CDC has already modified webpages with
information about vaccines and other vital public health
information—which a federal judge has now ordered the Trump
Administration to restore.
“Never mind that the Trump administration is also, reportedly,
planning widespread and significant layoffs—layoffs—at CDC and across
HHS.
“This is how RFK Jr. substitutes his own beliefs for science. So,
when the vaccine conspiracies start swirling—and RFK Jr. turns HHS into
ground zero for misinformation—‘I had no idea’ is not going to be an excuse for confirming him.
“Because at the HELP Committee hearing, the Chair pressed him
repeatedly about the debunked claim that vaccines cause autism. And when
RFK Jr. said he needed to ‘see the evidence,’ he was shown the
evidence. But, to no one’s surprise, he did not keep his word, admit
he’d been wrong, and spread the good news that vaccines do not cause autism.
“He has had two weeks since that hearing to look at the same
settled science as everyone else—crickets. But he won’t hesitate to
quote the latest anti-vax conspiracy. He is totally up to speed on that
front.
“Are my colleagues really buying this guy will take an impartial look at the science?
“If you think RFK Jr. will change who he is, you are lying to
yourself. He has given no evidence to suggest that—and all the evidence
in the world to the contrary.
“Given his long, and growing track record, we cannot just pretend if
RFK Jr. finally gets power to undermine vaccines—a cause that he has
dedicated a considerable amount of time and effort to—that he’ll just
give it up. That is not believable.
“And I know I’ve been talking a lot about vaccines—because it is so
obviously alarming—but the responsibility he would have goes far beyond
that.
“So, let’s break some of this down—both the ways he could undermine
vaccines as HHS Secretary, and the other responsibilities that would be
at stake.
“To start with, the CDC is under HHS. That means that the Secretary
directly appoints people to CDC’s vaccine advisory board. That board is
responsible for making recommendations about vaccines—and it is those
recommendations that determine whether or not certain vaccines have to
be covered by insurance.
“So, simply put: changing those recommendations will change what
vaccines millions of Americans, including kids, will be able to get from
their health care provider.
“If he is confirmed, there
would be nothing stopping RFK Jr. from firing the entire board and
replacing them all with vaccine skeptics.
“After all, he has said many times, and in many ways, he thinks CDC
is corrupt and bought by pharma—as usual, by the way, without any
evidence.
“RFK. Jr. would also oversee the Food and Drug Administration; that
is another agency he has repeatedly tried to discredit and attack—where
he says he plans to fire—fire!—hundreds of scientists on Day One. And an
agency that plays the crucial role of making sure our drugs and our
treatments—including vaccines—are safe and effective.
“Not only would Mr. Kennedy have a key perch from which he
could undermine vaccines on a scale like never seen before, he could
also use his platform to peddle quack treatments with no basis in
science.
“RFK Jr. would also have jurisdiction over NIH. That alone means
influence over billions of dollars in medical research—research that is
responsible for a significant portion of our economy, and more
importantly, research that patients are desperately hoping will help
them find cures.
“But RFK Jr. could redirect those funds to promote his favorite pet conspiracies instead of promising cures.
“Or he could make good on his plan to fire hundreds of researchers and pause infectious disease research—for eight years. It should go without saying: viruses aren’t going to take a break.
“And here’s the thing—the attacks on medical research are now already happening under Trump. From his day one Executive Orders, President Trump has already been threatening medical research.
“Suddenly, all of our grants are at risk because they are looking at
addressing ‘barriers to care’ or understanding why Black and Native
American women have higher maternal death rates.
“And now—President Trump also is trying to illegally, arbitrarily,
and suddenly change NIH guidelines to set an unrealistically low cap on
indirect cost rates. That would mean researchers are laid off,
studies canceled—including lifesaving clinical trials—and kids are not
able to get the treatment they need.
“All because President Trump and Elon Musk don’t seem to
understand how we actually fund important research, and couldn’t even be
bothered to find out before taking an axe to medical research labs.
“At a time when lifesaving research like this is already under attack from the President, and the richest man in the world, no one
who truly values medical research should vote to install one of the
biggest attackers of medical science as the Secretary of Health and
Human Services.
“And, M. President, insurance is another huge portfolio for HHS. Last
time Trump was in office, we saw millions of people lose their health
care coverage. The uninsured rate went up after years of
hard-won progress, and we all know he still wants to rip up the
Affordable Care Act—which will drive up costs and kick people off their
coverage.
“There’s no reason to think Mr. Kennedy will stand up to that effort.
Indeed, there is no reason to think he has the experience and
understanding of the system to actually do so.
“During his committee hearings, RFK Jr. confused Medicare and
Medicaid—this is basic stuff! He failed to describe the components of
Medicare.
“And yes, Mr. President, I also absolutely have to talk about abortion care. This is of grave importance—especially right now.
“In his hearings, not only did RFK Jr. confess to having no real
understanding of EMTALA—that is a law which requires patients have
access to lifesaving emergency care including, in some cases, abortion
care—he also showed that he will be totally open to Republicans’
fact-free efforts to rip away access to medication abortion.
“Like so many other issues that RFK Jr. is simply wrong about, the science on that has been settled for many years now.
“Mr. Kennedy made clear though, he is very open to revisiting access
to the abortion pill, based on a Republican argument against the science
that basically boils down to: ‘Nuh uh, nuh uh!’
“Putting up barriers to accessing the abortion pill—or
ripping it off the market completely, as Republicans have made very
clear they want to do—would be absolutely devastating.
“And let’s not forget about pandemic threats. The lies that RFK Jr.
spread during the last pandemic already make clear he is not the man to
do this job. But if that weren’t enough, when there was a
pandemic threat response planning session for this new Administration—he
skipped it! He didn’t go! It would almost be comical if this wasn’t so
serious.
“Mr. President, everywhere you look, everything about this nominee is so concerning.
“We cannot take this man at his word—something he has changed
and gone back and forth on time and time again. But we can take him on
his record—which is that he has consistently undermined vaccine
confidence and, by the way, note: he even profited from that.
“And we can take the threat of what he might do seriously, especially given the alarming things that are already happening.
“If RFK Jr. gives you his word of honor, that he won’t freeze
research—well guess what? We are already seeing the Trump
Administration totally upend medical research. Thanks to the Trump
funding freeze, NIH hasn’t issued any grant awards in weeks!
“If RFK Jr. swears that he is not going to take down
information about vaccines, that he is not going to silence experts,
well don’t look now—but the Trump Administration has already taken down
or changed CDC pages about vaccines. They have already silenced public
health experts.
“If RFK Jr. pinky promises you that he won’t undermine
medical science or studies, and he won’t ignore global health threats,
well, you might want to sit down for this—but President Trump has
completely demolished our global health aid work. He has already
completely demolished it.
“The fallout is utterly heart wrenching. Already we know of a
woman who died—because the USAID-supported hospital she went to for
oxygen was forced to discharge her because they got a ‘stop-work’ order
from the Trump administration.
“It is not clear if she was the first death caused by Trump’s
complete freeze, but there is no question, she will not be the last.
“And Mr. President—let me make a really important point here: it
is not just people across the world who will be affected by this.
“There was a study being done on a new HIV treatment with
thousands of volunteers, a study being done already having a thousand
volunteers doing the treatment. But now, without their regular
injections, which are cut off because of Trump’s move, there is going to
be too little of the drug in their system to protect those people from
HIV—but enough of the drug that if they contract HIV, it could mutate to
become drug resistant.
“So, for all the absolutely unhinged conspiracies we have
heard about medical research from RFK Jr. and the like, where is the
concern for this actual risk, in this actual study, happening right now
all because President Trump cut off foreign assistance?
“RFK Jr. has been silent about that risk, silent about how
wrong that is—and so, even as he is making these empty promises on one
hand to some of our colleagues, he is already standing by as President
Trump breaks them on the other hand.
“Oh, and here’s one more—if RFK Jr. says he is going to consult you on health care personnel, please do not be fooled.
“Look, I don’t know why my colleagues need me to tell them
this—I like to think we have some pretty smart people around here—but
this vote, RFK Jr.’s own nomination, this is your consultation on health care personnel. Not some made up promise for later. This is the point you have the most power.
“Whatever he might say, you don’t get to choose who RFK Jr. will appoint to this or that—heck, he doesn’t get to choose who President Trump appoints.
“The decision you get to make, all of us on this floor get to make, is the decision on this floor before us right now. You get to choose who you vote to confirm. And you will have to live with that decision.
“And, if you ignore the warning signs, and confirm RFK
Jr.—then, when the wheels fall off the wagon, you may try to tell
yourself you were lied to, but you knew who you were dealing with. You
knew who you were dealing with. You knew what he has said before, and
what he has refused to say.
“You had all the knowledge you needed to do the right thing.
“I cannot tell my colleagues enough: this is not a game, this
is not a political role without consequence. The Health Secretary has
real power over whether Americans can get basic information and care
that impacts whether they live or die.
“As I have tried to drive home throughout this process—vaccines save lives. That is not a question. It is not a slogan. It is a fact.
“If, when parents look to you, worried about their newborn,
wanting to do what is best for their baby, and trusting your advice as a
public health leader—if you cannot tell them the same truth that
centuries of science and experience tells us, which is that vaccines are
safe, effective, and lifesaving, then you have absolutely no business leading the Department of Health and Human Services. None.
“And so, just as I did at the hearing, I want to warn all of
my colleagues: by merely voting to confirm Mr. Kennedy, we would be
telling our constituents he is worth listening to on vaccines. That
alone will get people killed—before he even lifts a finger.
“Because he does not even need the levers of power to get people killed—all he needs is a megaphone.
“To affirm his views by voting to confirm him as our highest health official—let’s not mince words about what that will mean.
“When babies die from whooping cough because parents weren’t
sure the vaccine was safe—will you be able to look them in the eye? When
the flu sweeps our nursing homes, when measles sweeps through our
communities—will it be worth it?
“Mr. President, I will end on this—I’m sure there are plenty of
members who know perfectly well just how dangerous it would be to
confirm RFK Jr. They don’t need to hear it from me—in fact, some of them
may even know the danger better than I do.
“But here’s what I do know: conscience is a muscle. Courage is a muscle. The less you use them, the more they fade away.
“So if my colleagues are feeling the pressure from President
Trump or if they are feeling the weight of the richest man in the world
on their backs on this vote, I would warn them: this will certainly not
be the last test we face here in the Senate.
“Giving into pressure now won’t make it go away. It won’t soften the
pressure you face later, and it will not strengthen your resolve when
the stakes are higher. It will just show: pressure works.
“If you do not draw a line somewhere, you will cross
every line you could ever imagine. You will be pushed further and
further into accepting things you never thought you would—things you
thought you never could.
“I think most of my colleagues know what is really at stake
here. I think most of my colleagues knowwhat sort of man RFK Jr. is, and
what sort of damage he could do if confirmed.
“There are political realities, we all get that—but there is also right and wrong. There is also fact and fiction.
“There is people staying healthy, and people dying pointlessly—kids dying
pointlessly—from diseases that we can prevent, because they thought
Congress took its job vetting our health secretary seriously.
“So, M. President, I urge all my colleagues to show some
courage. I urge them to show some conscience. I urge them to vote NO on
RFK Jr.’s nomination.”
###
