On the recordFebruary 12, 2025
I rise today in opposition to Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.'s nomination to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. Healthcare is not just a policy to me; it is deeply personal. I got into public service because of my own healthcare journey. When I was 9, I was hospitalized with a serious childhood illness. It was similar to spinal meningitis--that wasn't the exact diagnosis but similar. While I fought to survive and then ultimately to get better and fully recover, my grandparents, who raised me, struggled to figure out how to pay for the lifesaving care that I needed and received. In total, I spent 3 months in the hospital in Madison, WI. When I talk about healthcare, I don't just speak as a U.S. Senator or as a Wisconsinite; I am speaking as a person who knows what it was like to spend months in a hospital bed. I am speaking as someone who knows the emotional toll and the financial stress that it put on my loved ones. I am speaking as someone who knows firsthand how important it is to protect our children from serious illness and the dire consequences when our children do get sick. That is why I was so disturbed by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.'s nomination to lead our Nation's largest public health Agency. As a member of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, I was able to question Mr. Kennedy at one of his nomination hearings. I watched as he over and over again parroted the same answer when pressed about his anti-vaccine views.…
