JD Vance Comes to RFK Jr.'s Defense After Senate Democrats Turn Hearing Into a Spectacle

Vice President J.D. Vance came to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s defense Thursday after Democrats subjected him to hours of hostile questioning during a Senate Finance Committee hearing.

“When I see all these senators trying to lecture and ‘gotcha’ Bobby Kennedy today, all I can think is: You all support off-label, untested, and irreversible hormonal ‘therapies’ for children, mutilating our kids and enriching big pharma,” Vance wrote on social media following Kennedy’s testimony.

“You’re full of sh** and everyone knows it,” he added.

Democratic senators including Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Bernie Sanders of Vermont, and Ron Wyden of Oregon tried to corner Kennedy on his vaccine policies, but the HHS chief stood his ground.

At one point, Warren accused Kennedy of stripping away access to vaccines.
“Last week you announced the COVID vaccine is no longer approved for healthy people under the age of 65,” Warren claimed.

“Anybody can get it, senator,” Kennedy responded. “It’s not recommended for healthy people.”

Warren pressed further, saying a lack of recommendation would prevent pharmacies and insurers from providing the vaccine. Kennedy fired back, “We’re not going to recommend a product for which there is no clinical data for that indication. Most Americans are going to be able to get it from their pharmacy for free.”

The Massachusetts senator then lashed out, claiming Kennedy had broken a confirmation hearing pledge. Kennedy shot back: “I never promised that I was going to recommend products for which there is no indication! And I know you’ve taken $855,000 from pharmaceutical companies.”

Sanders shifted the spotlight to donations, asking, “Every single Republican has received PAC money from the pharmaceutical industry. Are they all corrupt as well? Everybody is corrupt, but you, is that what we’re looking at? I don’t think so.”

“I don’t even know what you’re talking about,” Kennedy responded. “Are you saying the pharmaceutical industry was supporting my presidential campaign? I don’t think so.”

Wyden escalated the rhetoric even further, accusing Kennedy of endangering children’s lives.
“I hope that you will tell the American people how many preventable child deaths are an acceptable sacrifice for enacting an agenda that I think is fundamentally cruel and defies common sense,” Wyden charged.

Kennedy pushed back, pointing directly at the senator’s long record of inaction: “Senator, you’ve sat in that chair for — how long? 20, 25 years? — while the chronic disease in our children went up to 76 percent. And you said nothing. You never asked the question why it’s happening — why is this happening?”

The heated exchanges highlight the glaring hypocrisy among Democrats who have long accepted massive donations from the pharmaceutical lobby. According to OpenSecrets, Warren has raked in about $1.3 million from the pharmaceutical and health products industry throughout her career, Sanders roughly $1.95 million since 1990, and Wyden $1.2 million.

Meanwhile, Kennedy remains one of President Donald Trump’s most popular cabinet members. A recent InsiderAdvantage poll found that 52 percent of likely voters approve of his job performance, while only 33 percent disapprove. His favorability rating continues to outpace other high-profile members of the administration.