Chris Van Hollen: “I want to start by commending my colleague, the Senator from Vermont, Mr. Welch, for his strong argument as to why we…”

“I want to start by commending my colleague, the Senator from Vermont, Mr. Welch, for his strong argument as to why we should all vote no on the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., to be Secretary of Health and Human Services, and I come to the floor tonight to voice my strong opposition to this nomination. You know, Mr. Kennedy says that he will always follow the evidence no matter where it leads. Well, if you look at his record, he hasn't done that. But let's apply that guidance and see where it leads when it comes to his own nomination. First, is he qualified to do the job? That should be the basic threshold question for any nominee to a position such as this. And the short answer is no, but let's now look at the evidence and understand why. We know that the Department of Health and Human Services manages some of our most critical health programs, like Medicaid, like Medicare. It does health research that delivers treatments and cures at the National Institutes of Health and the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health. At the FDA, the Food and Drug Administration, it determines whether or not the drugs we consume are safe and whether they are efficacious-- whether they will actually do what the manufacturers say they will do.…”