The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing turned heated on Thursday when Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) clashed with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., accusing him of endangering public health and urging him to resign.
Kennedy, who was appointed by President Trump earlier this year, was testifying on the administration’s healthcare agenda when Warnock pressed him on a series of controversies, including his attacks on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and his handling of vaccine policy following last month’s shooting at the CDC campus in Atlanta.
“This is my neck of the woods,” Warnock said, recalling the tragedy in which a gunman, angry over COVID-19 vaccines, opened fire on CDC buildings and killed DeKalb County Officer David Rose. “Nearly 500 shell casings were found. It’s a miracle more people weren’t killed.”
Warnock grilled Kennedy on whether he had pressured former CDC Director Dr. Susan Monarez to fire career scientists and accept recommendations from his newly appointed vaccine advisory panel without review by longtime experts. Kennedy admitted he had criticized Monarez but denied pushing her to rubber-stamp decisions.
At one point, Warnock asked if Kennedy had described the CDC as the “most corrupt federal agency in the world.” Kennedy pushed back but acknowledged, saying it was “the most corrupt agency in HHS and maybe the government.”
Warnock then zeroed in on the stakes: rising measles cases, including child fatalities.
“Despite your lack of credentials and expertise, clearly you have an agenda and it is a threat to the public health of the American people,” Warnock said. “You are a hazard to the health of the American people. I think that you oughta resign. And if you don’t resign, the president … should fire you”.
“Senator, we’re the sickest people in the world. How am I a threat?” Kennedy shot back. He defended his skepticism toward the CDC, arguing the agency had failed Americans on vaccine safety and other public health issues.
But Warnock wasn’t convinced. For the Georgia senator, the link between Kennedy’s rhetoric and the CDC shooting was undeniable. “We’re seeing deaths from children we haven’t seen in two decades,” Warnock said.
For Warnock, the issue is bigger than politics; it’s about restoring trust in science.
Photo Credit: X/ReverendWarnock
