Kennedy stares down a second day of Senate testimony

Health and Human Services nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. came off a day during which he was hammered for more than three hours by members of the Senate Finance Committee. Today — testifying before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions — marked Day 2 in hearings on his path toward a confirmation vote, during which Kennedy said he will work to make sure farmers are full partners in any health approaches he implements.

The HHS Cabinet position includes leadership over the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, both of which carry powerful influence in the research, communication, record-keeping, and regulation of American agriculture.

Kennedy has long found himself under fire for past statements related to his stance on vaccines, but the first day’s questioning and testimony went far beyond that to include rural health care, his ideas for reforming Medicaid, his financial stake in continuing lawsuits against drug companies, and his willingness to collaborate with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. farmers.

The nominee seemed far more comfortable on the second day, addressing with mixed results some of the key concerns that senators threw at him.

The Make America Healthy Again movement “simply cannot succeed if we do not have the partnership of America’s farmers,” Kennedy told the committee today. And he emphasized that too many people in the government are unwilling to have what he says are these toughest conversations.

In a response to Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas, Kennedy reiterated his background in 4-H and that he had worked summers on ranches as a child.

“I’ve worked for years representing farmers in various forms of litigation,” RFK Jr. said. “We are losing farmers today, and we can’t afford to lose a single farmer. … We have our farmers on an offramp of chemically intensive agriculture, which they don’t want to do, which even the chemical industry is ready to change, so that they can grow crops that they can sell in Europe.”

Kennedy said that there is illness all around the farming community (he specifically highlighted Parkinson’s disease), and noted that it’s “undoubtedly related to the intensity of chemical pesticides.”

Largely, the divisiveness throughout these hearings isn’t about whether the acute and chronic health of America needs to be improved (that much, pretty much everyone agrees upon), it’s about whether RFK Jr. has the depth of knowledge, experience, and strategy to be the one to lead that effort.

Republican senators have largely been cordial and supportive of the nominee, while Democratic senators have tended to be more poignant in their criticism.

Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican and chair of Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, was perhaps the most commanding presence in the room today. Cassidy is a physician who has not indicated which way he is leaning on Kennedy’s confirmation, and after his early questioning specific to health issues, he seemed satisfied with the responses from the nominee.

Overall, today’s confirmation hearing was far more toned down and less tense than Wednesday’s hearing, even from some of Kennedy’s fiercest critics like Sen. Bernie Sanders.

About an hour into the hearing, Kennedy stated during one response, “President Trump was the best president in modern American history for the American farmer. He was the first one to see farm prices go up. He has instructed me to take care of the farmers and make sure they’re full partners.”

Yet part of the difficulties for Kennedy is that there are also many outside forces working against him. This week, Farm Journal published the results of its Ag Economists’ Monthly Monitor survey, which asked whether RFK Jr. would be a positive choice for U.S. agriculture. A decisive 90 percent of ag economists surveyed said, “No.” 

Earlier this month in a letter to senators, the right-leaning Breakthrough Institute said, “By hamstringing technological advances and crucial inputs key to the maintenance of U.S. agricultural abundance and global competitiveness, he will make life harder for agricultural producers, decrease food production, and increase food prices for American consumers.”

In his opening statement, Kennedy repeated many of the same comments he gave Wednesday to the Finance Committee, particularly around the numbers on obesity and chronic diseases in the U.S. He also affirmed wanting to partner with farmers if confirmed into the role of Secretary of Health and Human Services.

Kennedy’s testimony before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions began at 10 a.m. ET today and is currently ongoing. This article will be updated as new information and statements are presented.