At today's Senate Finance Committee hearing, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) grilled HHS Sec. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. about the firing of CDC Director Susan Monarez.
00:00Senator Tillis. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Secretary Kennedy, thank you for being here. A couple of times you asked people if they were making a statement or a question. What I think I may do, just to give you a breather, is to make a statement with a lot of questions. And just for the record, I'd like for you to have the opportunity to have your staff respond.
00:20I can't conclude from the discussion today where you are on warp speed. So I would like the definitive statement on exactly where you are. Was it good? Was it bad? Were the things that worked? Were the things that didn't work? I can't discern that from what you said here. I, for one, think that it was a signature accomplishment of President Trump and the MRNA platform.
00:46I agree with that. I look forward to you giving us a detailed statement on exactly where you are with warp speed. I'm not a doctor. I'm not a trial lawyer. I'm a boring management consultant.
00:57Another question that we'll submit in the record, I'll give you directionally where we're going. I don't see how you go over four weeks from a public health expert with unimpeachable scientific credentials, a longtime champion of Maha values,
01:13caring and compassionate and brilliant microbiologist and four weeks later fire her because at least the public reports say because she refused to fire people that work for her.
01:25So as somebody who advised executives on hiring strategies, number one, I would suggest in the interview, you ask them if they're truthful rather than four weeks after we took the time of the U.S. Senate to confirm
01:36the person just for the future nominee that we're going to have to consider.
01:42But I do also believe that some of your statements seem to contradict what you said in the prior hearing.
01:48You said you're going to empower the scientists at HHS to do their job.
01:52I'd just like to see evidence where you've done that.
01:54And I'm sure that you will have some.
01:56You will do nothing that makes it difficult or discourages people from taking vaccines.
02:01There seem to be several reports that would seem to refute that, but I'd rather you just respond to it.
02:07I'm not going to come here and impose my belief over any of yours.
02:12That, again, seems to be contradictory to the firing of a CDC director, the canceling of MRNA research contracts,
02:21firing advisory board members, attempting to stall NIH funding, eliminating funding for the, I think,
02:29a half a billion dollars for further vaccine, I'm sorry, MRNA research.
02:35And just want an answer for it.
02:39On the, on H.R.1, I believe, you know my concerns about H.R.1.
02:47I've had several meetings with, and H.R.1 is the big, beautiful bill, O.B.3, whatever the brand is.
02:53But I'm still, I've got an office with 60 staff, including half of them in state office.
03:00I've had three different estimates of the economic impact on the state of North Carolina.
03:05Can I get your commitment, and I have been looking for somebody that's far more resourced than an office of 30 people up in here in D.C.
03:13to disprove my estimates with respect to the impact on North Carolina, period.
03:17And I've yet to have any, I would love to be embarrassed and be wrong, but I would like to get your commitment
03:23for people to tease through the numbers that I provided before the vote on H.R.1
03:28that says that if you normalize three independent estimates across the broad spectrum, $25 billion over 10 years.
03:36I don't need your response now.
03:37I want somebody to destroy my estimates, because to this point, the most resourced health agency in the world
03:44has only given me word-salad responses, and I need that so that we can prepare for the response.
03:49$25 billion over 10 years is half of the rural relief fund over five years.
03:56And so we just need to have that fact as a matter of policy so that we can go in North Carolina and absorb it.
04:03And I know every state's different, and I'm assuming every one of my colleagues here have done the math for their states.
04:08I'm not focused on that, but I want you to destroy my estimates if they're in fact wrong,
04:14and I want you to acknowledge them if in fact they're right.
04:17That will come in a question as well.
04:20Mr. Kennedy, you've stayed at multiple times in response to other members' questions that scientists were lying.
04:28We'll go back to the record and cases where you've said that.
04:31I'd just like to see the scientific evidence to substantiate that.
04:35I'm going to stipulate that you were honest and you had research behind it.
04:39We'll go back and figure out what scientific studies you believe are founded on lies and not scientifically viable.
04:46And then, finally, I just want to give you an opportunity.
04:50Apparently, in the exchange with Senator Bennett, you said you agreed with Dr. Levy's statements,
04:56who said that the mRNA vaccine causes serious harm, including death, particularly in young people.
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