RFK Jr.’s Hearing Sparks Partisan Clash Among Senate Panel’s Members

After Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s tense three-hour hearing on his nomination as to become secretary of the Department of Human Health and Services, Republican and Democratic senators remained sharply divided over the health activist who now represents a significant part of President Donald Trump’s coalition.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., emerged from the hearing to tell the press that after hours of Kennedy being grilled on his proposals for health policy, he didn’t think the nominee had been forthright with the Senate Finance Committee.

“When we tried to get out some of the specifics, like his many anti-vaccination statements with his few pro-vaccination statements, and we asked him to explain this—I mean, what way was he lying?—he basically served up a big plate of word salad,” the Oregon lawmaker said.

Asked by a CNN reporter whether he thought any Democratic senators would vote to confirm Kennedy—who was a lifelong Democrat until becoming an independent in October 2023—Wyden said he didn’t think so.

“I can’t see it. I think that he was so untrustworthy and unprepared, I don’t believe any Democrats on the committee will support him,” he said.

But Republicans had their own bone to pick with Democrats.

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., who was one of the committee’s fiercest defenders of Kennedy, told The Daily Signal he was disappointed by Democrats’ harsh questioning of the HHS nominee.

“It’s just so disappointing to see the hostility from the Democrat side,” said Johnson.

 “I understand what is in [Kennedy’s] heart, what he wants to accomplish. It’s completely nonpartisan, and that’s what’s so disappointing. This is a completely nonpartisan issue. You know, how do we address chronic illness? How do we find out what’s causing autism? American people want to know that. Whether they’re Democrat or Republican, they want to know that,” the Wisconsin Republican said.

Johnson was almost as doubtful as Wyden about the prospects of the nominee receiving Democratic votes in the Senate.

“It’s kind of hard to say,” he said. “They came in with their minds closed, it seemed like to me.” 

Johnson also responded to Democrats’ accusations that Kennedy would serve as a mere “rubber stamp” for Trump’s agenda, suggesting instead that his relationship with the president would be cooperative.

“I think there’s a mutual respect between the two of them,” the Wisconsin lawmaker. “They’re both intelligent individuals. They both can be led by the science of what the truth is. They’ll be able to impact each other’s opinions on things.”

Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., was also an ally of Kennedy at the hearing.

Daines told The Daily Signal that he was impressed by Kennedy’s performance and disappointed by Democrats’ opposition.

“I thought he did very, very well under angry Democrats attacking him relentlessly, oftentimes not allowing him to even speak. This is about hearing from the nominee, not about rants from the senators,” he said, adding: “What stuck out to me is, he said he wants the HHS to be the gold standard of science and data-driven. We need more of that. Take away the partisan politics.”

As with Johnson, Daines was asked whether he thought Kennedy had won the votes of any Democratic senators with his performance at the hearing, Daines chuckled and replied, “Probably not.”

The stakes of the hearing were palpable in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, as numerous Kennedy supporters had gathered to watch the hearing. Kennedy’s health-oriented movement has become a new and large part of the Republican coalition since he joined the president-to-be’s campaign in August 2024.

Andrea Levinson, who traveled from Columbia, Maryland, to attend the hearing, told The Daily Signal that Trump was the first Republican she ever voted for, and said Kennedy was the reason she became politically active.

“The day that RFK declared he was running for president, I knew I got a calling from a bigger place, a higher place. I’ve never been an activist before in my life, but the day he declared he was running, I became an activist, and I am for life now,” she said.

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