Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump’s nominee for Health and Human Services Secretary, called out members of Congress for their hypocrisy, noting that many of them receive millions of dollars from Big Pharma, zeroing in on Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), specifically.
After testifying before the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday, Kennedy engaged in round two before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on Thursday. Because he is a member of the Finance Committee and Ranking Member of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Sanders had the opportunity for yet another Q&A with Kennedy.
This time, Sanders tried to force Kennedy to agree to fight for guaranteed health care for all.
“If we want to make America healthy, will you assure the American people that you will fight to do what every other major country on Earth does [and] guarantee health care to every single American?” Sanders asked.
Kennedy replied, “I’m going to make America healthier than other countries of the world right now,” before Sanders interrupted.
“Will [you] guarantee do what every other major country does,” the lawmaker asked. “That’s a simple question.”
At that point, Kennedy pointed out that the problem of corruption does not just exist in federal agencies, calling out members of Congress, specifically.
“And by the way, Bernie, the you know, the problem of corruption is not just in the federal agencies. It’s in Congress too. Almost all the members of this panel are accepting, including yourself, are accepting millions of dollars from the pharmaceutical industry and protecting their interests,” he said as Sanders descended straight into denial amid the applause for Kennedy.
“Oh, no,” Sanders objected suggesting he knew this would come up. Sanders claimed that, when he ran for president, he received “millions and millions” of contributions, which he maintained did not come from “executives.”
“Not one nickel of PAC money from the pharmaceutical industry. They came from workers,” Sanders claimed.
“In 2020, you were the single largest receiver of pharmaceutical money,” Kennedy said. Sanders attempted to explain it away by claiming that he received money from the “workers” in the industry.
“Because I received from workers all over this country. Workers. Not a nickel from corporate PACs,” Sanders yelled.
“You’re the single largest accepter of pharmaceutical dollars,” Kennedy replied as Sanders denied it, stating, “Workers!”
“No. From workers in the industry,” Sanders said, waving his hand.
“1.5 million,” Kennedy said as Sanders replied, “Yeah, out of 200 million.”
The tense exchange follows Sanders melting down about baby clothes during Wednesday’s hearing, attempting to force Kennedy to disavow onesies sold by the group Kennedy started and has since left. The onesies included the slogans “Unvaxxed Unafraid” and “No Vax. No Problem.”
WATCH — These Are Not Serious People: Bernie Demands RFK Jr. Condemn “Unvaxed” Baby Onesie
The great irony is, despite the accusatory statements, many of Kennedy’s critics themselves have, indeed, received significant sums from the healthcare industry — including Sens. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), as Breitbart News detailed.
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