Yesterday, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appeared on Capitol Hill to testify in front of the Senate Finance Committee. U.S. Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Jon Ossoff (D-GA), Angela (D-MD), and all six members of the Congressional Democratic Doctors Caucus joined Protect Our Care and 314 Action to hold RFK Jr. and Donald Trump accountable for this public health crisis. Watch the Full Event Here.
The hearing was an unmitigated disaster for Kennedy, proving once again that his ‘MAHA’ agenda rooted in lies and conspiracy theories is the most pressing threat to public health in America. Experts and lawmakers alike are calling for RFK Jr.’s removal from office to protect the critical institutions and health care programs that keep Americans healthy. While Republicans decline to hold him accountable for his dangerous, anti-vaccine agenda, refusing even to swear him in to testify under oath, Democrats in Congress stand united in the fight to protect public health and are calling on RFK Jr. to resign immediately.
Senate
- Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY): “Trump should fire RFK Jr. now.”
- Senate Finance Committee Democrats: “Robert Kennedy has failed to protect the health of the American people and endangers the lives of all Americans, particularly children, people with disabilities, and vulnerable Americans. Robert Kennedy must resign, and if he doesn’t, Trump should fire him before more American families are hurt by his reckless disregard for science and the truth.”
- Democratic Doctors Caucus: “The Democratic Doctors Caucus, comprised of U.S. Representatives Ami Bera (CA-06), Herbert Conaway (NJ-03), Maxine Dexter (OR-03), Kelly Morrison (MI-03), Raul Ruiz (CA-25), and Kim Schrier (WA-08), is calling for the resignation of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., citing repeated actions that have undermined evidence-based public health guidance and jeopardized the health and safety of the American people.”
- Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR): “I don’t think Robert Kennedy should be within a million miles of this job.”
- Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT): “We need an HHS Secretary who respects science and does not make policy based on conspiracy theories. Vaccines are safe and effective. Kennedy is threatening the health of our kids and all Americans. He must resign.”
- Sen. Sanders: “Dangerously, President Trump and HHS Sec. Kennedy are wreaking havoc on our already broken and dysfunctional healthcare system. You don’t make America healthy again by throwing 15 million people off of their health care and undermining science. Secretary Kennedy must resign.”
- Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA): “RFK Jr. has been in this job for months… and he can’t answer how many Americans died of COVID or if the vaccine saved any lives? It’s unbelievable and I’ll keep pushing for him to resign.”
- Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA): “RFK Jr. is a serious threat to public health and our lives. He is undermining vaccines, boosting dangerous conspiracy theories, and decimating lifesaving research. Resign or be fired. He needs to go.”
- Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO): “Parents, schools, and teachers deserve the truth about vaccines, and they deserve better than [Kennedy]’s boldfaced lies. His incompetence puts Colorado kids at risk. He must resign.”
- Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV): “RFK Jr. is lying to the American people and can’t answer simple questions about his agency and role. He needs to resign.”
- Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI): “I have some advice for RFK Jr: resign.”
- Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA): “A month ago, RFK Jr. called his CDC director ‘unimpeachable.’ Then she refused to sign off on his plan to put little kids’ health at risk, and he fired her. RFK Jr. should resign.”
- Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH): “Secretary Kennedy once again demonstrated that he is a threat to Americans’ safety and wellbeing. He is lying to the public and needs to resign.”
- Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA): “RFK Jr. must resign.”
- Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD): “RFK Jr has taken a chainsaw to American public health and undermined the mission of HHS. It’s no surprise the patriots who still believe in that mission are calling on him to resign. He is a danger to Americans’ health. He should be fired immediately.”
- Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT): “It’s like we’re living a nightmare. We have conspiracy wackos running our nation’s most important health agencies. And people are going to die. This shouldn’t be another left/right, red/blue issue. RFK Jr. has to go. And Republicans should just say what they know is true.”
- Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI): “Take it from over 1,000 health care professionals: RFK Jr. is a threat to your health, your family’s health, and the health of our country. Innocent people will die at the hands of his incompetence. He must resign.”
- Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT): “RFK Jr. has to resign. He is a serious hazard to the health of the American people. As the head of the nation’s most important health agencies his lies & conspiracies will get people killed.”
- Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA): “RFK Jr. must resign.”
- Sen. Ossoff: “He never should have been confirmed by the senate and he needs to resign. It is one thing to be a skeptic or a reformer. It is quite another to be a fool…”
- Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA): “You are a hazard to the health of the American people. I think that you ought to resign. And if you don’t resign, the president who put forward operation warp speed, which worked, should fire you.”
- Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-NM): “[Kennedy] you should resign.”
- Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD): “Ahead of RFK Jr. coming to Capitol Hill today, Senator Wyden and I looked back at the first 200+ days of his costly, chaotic, and corrupt reign at HHS. If RFK Jr. loves this country and the incredible people in it, he will resign IMMEDIATELY.”
- Sen. Alsobrooks: “RFK lied to my face. He said he hadn’t fired any scientists. RFK has fired over 3,000 scientists from HHS. It’s shameful. He must resign.”
- Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA): “Under RFK Jr’s leadership – the CDC is being gutted. People will die because of this. RFK Jr. needs to resign. Now.”
- Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA): “The CDC is in crisis. Ousting the CDC Director, cutting half a billion dollars from lifesaving vaccine research, and taking the advice of conspiracy theorists over scientists, RFK has proven that he’s not fit to lead. It’s time to restore trust in the CDC. RFK must resign.”
- Sen. Andy Kim (D-NJ): “RFK Jr. has shown a complete disregard for science and the health of our families and must resign. We cannot allow Americans to be put further at-risk by his lies and his dangerous crusade against basic health standards proven to save lives.”
- Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE): “In addition to RFK Jr’s lack of credentials, his agenda is a threat to the health of the American people. It’s time for [Kennedy] to resign.”
House of Representatives
- House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY): “Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a disgrace. Something is clearly wrong with this conspiracy peddling so-called Secretary of Health and Human Services. You deserve better.”
- Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA): “RFK Jr.’s tenure as HHS Secretary has been a disgrace. He’s destroying our public health system and putting millions of lives at risk. He is wholly unfit to serve in this role and should resign immediately.”
- Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN-02): “I’m calling on Secretary Kennedy to resign.”
- Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY-12): “RFK Jr. has clearly compromised the public health of our nation and must resign.”
- Rep. Kim Schrier (D-WA-08): “I was proud to join my colleagues from both the House and the Senate to make it clear – RFK Jr. must resign as HHS Secretary.”
- Rep. Herb Conaway (D-NJ-03): “RFK Jr. has failed in his principal duty to protect the American people…He needs to resign.”
Experts
Over 1,000 HHS Staffers: “We swore an oath to support and defend the United States Constitution and to serve the American people. Our oath requires us to speak out when the Constitution is violated and the American people are put at risk. Thus, we warn the President, Congress, and the Public that Secretary Kennedy’s actions are compromising the health of this nation, and we demand Secretary Kennedy’s resignation.”
22 National Medical, Scientific, Public Health and Patient Organizations: “As national medical, scientific, public health and patient organizations, we call for the resignation of HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to ensure the health of the American people.” Signatories include:
- Infectious Diseases Society of America
- American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology
- American Academy of HIV Medicine
- American Association of Immunologists
- American Public Health Association
- American Society for Microbiology
- American Society for Virology
- Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC)
- AVAC
- Camenzind Solutions LLC
- Fast-Track Cities Institute
- HIV Medicine Association
- ID Care
- International Association of Providers of AIDS Care
- NTM Info & Research
- Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society
- Peggy Lillis Foundation
- Seattle Children’s Research Institute
- Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America
- Society of Infectious Diseases Pharmacists (SIDP)
- Stop TB USA
- Treatment Action Group
Larry Levitt, KFF Executive Vice President for Health Policy: “HHS Secretary Kennedy said today we’re the sickest country in the world. That’s true, among high-income countries. We also have the highest health care costs and prices, and are the only country without universal coverage.”
Dr. Susan Monarez, Former CDC Director: “Those seeking to undermine vaccines use a familiar playbook: discredit research, weaken advisory committees, and use manipulated outcomes to unravel protections that generations of families have relied on to keep deadly diseases at bay. Once trusted experts are removed and advisory bodies are stacked, the results are predetermined. That isn’t reform. It is sabotage.”
Dr. Rob Davidson, MD, MPH, Executive Director of Committee to Protect Health Care: “Doctor here. Working with over 36,000 doctors at @ctphealthcare. We do not support @SecKennedy, and the vast majority of scientists and doctors in this country oppose what he is doing at @HHSGov.”
Jake Scott, MD: “CDC data: over 1.2 million Americans have died from COVID. I personally cared for – and lost – over a hundred of them. For the Secretary of Health to say “I don’t know how many died” is outrageous. The loss is real. And denying it dishonors every family that lived through it.”
Annie Andrews, MD: “I’m just a girl, who did a spinal tap on a preschooler last week, asking you to fire RFK Jr.”