On the recordFebruary 12, 2025
I rise today in strong opposition to President Trump's nominee for Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. The Department he has been picked to lead is charged with protecting the health of all Americans, from safeguarding Medicare and nursing home care for seniors to investing in medical research, to safeguarding the Nation's food supply and supporting public health programs such as lead poisoning prevention and suicide prevention. One of the most important public health inventions of the last century is vaccines, making many deadly and debilitating diseases a thing of the past. The Secretary of Health and Human Services has an outsized role in making vaccines available to children and adults throughout the country, and that is something that gives me great pause about Mr. Kennedy's nomination. For those of us who grew up in the 1950s and 1960s, polio was an insidious threat that sent fear literally through every home in this country until Dr. Salk invented a vaccine. And it literally saved the lives--many, many lives--of generations of Americans. It was approved, and then it went forward. But I can recall lining up--in fact, my parents pulling me along and urging me to stand in line to get the first shot, and then the following year, get the next shot, because to them it was not just a medical routine. It could eliminate the constant worry and concern that one day their child could be subject to polio.…
