Temperatures run high, while senators Hammer RFK Jr. on vaccines

At one point, Mr. Kennedy that black people should adhere to different immunization plans. On another, a Republican Senator suggested that American children are overwhelmed and remembered the days when parents disciplined their children with a belt. Senator Maggie Hassan, Democrat of New Hampshire, cried as she talked about her son. Mr. Kennedy shouted to Senator Bernie Sanders, regardless of Vermont, who shouted back.

In the middle of it all was Senator Bill Cassidy, who is a doctor and committee chair. A Louisiana Republican, Mr. Cassidy, is on the fence about Mr. Kennedy. He opened the hearing by declaring that he was deeply uneasy by Mr. Kennedy’s “Past to undermine confidence in vaccines.” Eventually he wondered about Mr. Kennedy, 71, could change.

“Do you want to continue what you’ve been, or do you want to overturn a new magazine?” Mr. Cassidy asked and added that Mr. Kennedy with his devoted fanbase could have an “incredible influence” if he declared vaccines in safety.

“It’s your power,” Mr. Cassidy. “So what will it be? Will it use your credibility to support “vaccination” or will it use credibility to undermine? I have to figure it out for my voice. “

Mr. Cassidy also serves in Senat’s Finance Committee, who interviewed Mr. Kennedy Wednesday and will decide if Mr. Kennedy’s nomination is considered by the full organ. The financial panel, which is likely to vote next week, has 14 Republicans and 12 Democrats. If Mr. Cassidy votes against Mr. Kennedy, who made the committee to Deadlock, the Republican leader, Senator John Thune of South Dakota, could use a procedural tactic to force the nomination to the floor.

In a narrowly shared Senate, Mr. Kennedy advice to lose only three Republican votes if he is to win the final confirmation, provided all Democrats are against him. Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican in Alaska, also expressed concern about Mr. Kennedy’s view of vaccines on Thursday. And Senator Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, who is a polio survivor, has not said how he will vote.

For the other straight day, Mr. Kennedy to have little confidence with the scattered health programs he would oversee if they were confirmed to operate the health and human services department. Pressed by Ms. Hassan he was unable to properly identify the various components of Medicare, the health insurance program for tens of thousands of millions of older Americans. On Wednesday, he had stumbled through an answer to questions about Medicaid, the low -income programs.

Mr. Kennedy on Thursday committed to a broad agenda against abortion, despite previous comments supporting abortion rights. A former heroin user, Mr. Kennedy also promised to support the distribution of opioid abuse medicine to tackle a crisis that still claims about 100,000 lives each year.

But the majority of the consultation was devoted to whether Mr. Kennedy was willing to accept consensus in scientific research. Mr. Kennedy often claimed that if legislators were to show him vaccine data that proved him wrong, he would apologize. Democrats fired back and told Mr. Kennedy, that the research he asked to see had long been public.

Mr. Cassidy tested Mr. Kennedy’s promise in real time and read the results of a broad study that discredits relations between autism and vaccines.

“I’m a doctor who tries to understand. Convince me that you become the public health lawyer, but not just to throw old information so there is never a conclusion, ”he said.

Mr. Kennedy said there were other studies he could show Mr. Cassidy.

Republicans on the panel mostly defended Mr. Kennedy’s approach and said that scientific knowledge was unstable and rarely settled.

“We are so consensus -driven that science says this,” said Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, who is also a doctor, and criticized the government’s role in encouraging vaccination. “Well, science doesn’t say anything. Science is a dispute and 10 years from now we could all have wrong. “

There were several times when emotions ran high.

Mr. Kennedy and Mr. Sanders shouted to each other after Mr. Kennedy and approached Mr. Sanders as “Bernie”, accused the senator of taking money from pharmaceutical producers. A furious Mr. Sanders acknowledged that $ 1.5 million of the $ 200 million he had received during his presidential race in 2020 had come from pharmaceutical companies. “I had several contributions from workers everywhere in this country!” Mr. Sanders said angry, adding, “Not a nickel from Corporate Pacs!”

At another time, Mrs. Hassan broke down in tears while talking about his 36-year-old adult son who has cerebral palsy. She said that when the first study on autism and vaccines came out with reference to the research of a now-discred doctor, Andrew Wakefield, it has been withdrawn and debunked- “It shook my world.”

Her voice is breaking, Hassan said there wasn’t a day when she didn’t think about what she was doing when she was doing when she was pregnant with her son who may have caused his condition. “Then don’t suggest that anyone in this body of neither political party does not want to know what the cause of autism is,” she said.

But it’s Mr. Cassidy, the skewed doctor from Louisiana, whose decision will eventually be critical. He opened the hearing by telling the story of a patient who needed a liver transplant; He used to, he said, was the “worst day of my medical career” because he knew a vaccine could have prevented her fate.

“My phone is bursting with people who really follow you, and there are many who trust you more than they trust their own doctor,” Mr. Cassidy to Mr. Kennedy as the consultation began. “And then the question I need to have answered is, what do you want to do with that confidence?”

The hearing also demonstrated the divisions of the Republican Party on Vaccination. Three Republican Senators – Mr. Paul, Markwayne Mullin from Oklahoma and Tommy Tuberville from Alabama – praised Mr. Kennedy to ask questions about vaccination.

Then Mr. Paul suggested that infants did not have to be vaccinated against hepatitis B at birth, Mr. Cassidy in to contradict him. Mr. Tuberville, a former football coach, announced during the hearing that his son and daughter -in -law had “done their research” and should not have their child vaccinated according to the recommended schedule.

The hearing made it clear that the Democrats believe that their strongest tactics are to hammer away by Mr. Kennedy’s view of vaccination. In response to a question from Senator Angela Alsobrooks, a Maryland democrat, who is one of two black women in the panel, Mr. Kennedy his previous claim that black people should be on a vaccine plan than white people and said there was research that suggested that black people needed fewer antigens, the components of vaccines providing an immune response.

Mrs. Alsobrooks interrupted him. “Mr. Kennedy, with all respect, it’s so dangerous, ”she said. “Your voice would be a voice that parents would listen to.”

Allies of Mr. Kennedy’s has expressed concern that focus on vaccines could derail his confirmation; They would much rather talk about issues that have bipartisan support, such as encouraging healthy eating and turning the nation’s chronic disease epidemic. But Mr. Kennedy did not avoid the vaccine debate.

His supporters were excited about his performance Thursday. Zen Honeycutt, the founder of mothers all over America, an advocate that promotes healthy eating, Mr. Kennedy’s exchange with Mr. Sanders exposed that “corruption in the system was not only in the system,” but also within Congress.

Here’s what else needs to know:

• Disputed claims: The New York Times controlled Mr. Kennedy in real time. Read more here.

• The votes needed: Panelet Mr. Kennedy appeared before on Wednesday, the Senate Finance Committee, is the one who will vote on whether Mr. Kennedy’s nomination was to be sent to the full Senate for a final confirmation vote. Mr. Kennedy can only lose three Republican votes and still be confirmed if Democrats remain united in their opposition to him. Here’s a look at the handful of Republicans who keep his fate.

• More Confirmation Hearings: Mr. Kennedy is not the only one of President Trump’s more polarizing cabinet elections to appear on Thursday at Capitol Hill. Kash Patel, Mr. Trump’s election to lead the FBI, testified to the Senate Legal Committee, while Tulsi Gabbard, Mr. Trump’s election to oversee the country’s intelligence agencies went for Senat’s Select Committee on Intelligence. Read more about all hearings here.