President Donald Trump’s nominee to run the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., was in the hot seat Wednesday as he was peppered with more than three hours of detailed questions from senators during the first of two confirmation hearings.

Kennedy, the legacy Democrat turned Republican public health spokesman, has a decadeslong record of environmental and anti-vaccine advocacy. But he sought to walk back some of his past positions as he vies to become the nation’s chief health officer. 

If confirmed, Kennedy would be charged with leading 18 public health agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Fielding questions from the Senate Finance Committee, Kennedy rejected the “anti-vaccine” label and pledged to usher in “radical transparency” at HHS, but fumbled questions on Medicaid and Medicare and dodged addressing head-on financial conflicts of interest. 

The former environmental litigator will sit before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions on Thursday for a second day of questioning.

Here are the key things that Kennedy said during his first hearing on Wednesday. 

Denies “anti-vaccine” label

Kennedy repeatedly rejected assertions that he was against vaccines, saying that many of his past comments have been cherry-picked and taken out of context. 

“I support the measles vaccine. I support the polio vaccine,” he said. “I will do nothing as HHS secretary that makes it difficult or discourages people from taking them.”

The panel’s top Democrat, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), said his prior comments and books were evidence he’s embraced “conspiracy theories, quacks,” and “charlatans.” 

Kennedy was also asked by Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) if he was a “conspiracy theorist.”

“That is a pejorative, senator, that’s applied to me, mainly to keep me from asking difficult questions of powerful interests,” Kennedy responded. 

Pledges “radical transparency”

Kennedy vowed to run HHS with “radical transparency” in what he said would be a departure from the Biden administration stonewalling congressional investigations and oversight. 

“If members of this committee or other members of Congress want information, the doors are open,” Kennedy said. “I spent many years litigating against HHS and sub-agencies, NIH, CDC, FDA on [Freedom of Information Act] issues, trying to get information that we, the taxpayers, paid for.” 

Kennedy said that he wants HHS to represent the “gold standard” of scientific evidence, which he defined in part as the ability to replicate studies or produce the same or nearly identical results after re-doing a study.

“We should be giving at least 20% of the NIH budget to replication,” said Kennedy. “We should make sure that all the science is published with the raw data. We should make sure that the peer reviews are also published.”

Kennedy also said that NIH needs to publish studies that produce a null hypothesis or do not prove their intended results to improve trust in the agency.

“We need to end the old boy system. We need to have replicable science and be completely transparent about data,” said Kennedy.

Promises to follow Trump’s lead on abortion

Kennedy has had a convoluted record on abortion policy, flipping on the issue multiple times during his 2024 independent presidential campaign. 

When asked by senators on both sides of the aisle about abortion, Kennedy reiterated his personal position that “every abortion is a tragedy” and declined to go into detail on abortion policy. He acknowledged that he has previously expressed pro-choice views. 

“I agree with President Trump that every abortion is a tragedy. I agree with him that we cannot be a moral nation if we have 1.2 million abortions a year,” said Kennedy.

Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) asked Kennedy about safety regulations for the abortion pill mifepristone, a drug which anti-abortion advocates want Kennedy to heavily scrutinize.

Lankford highlighted that the FDA removed requirements to report adverse health outcomes for patients who take mifepristone, except for death as a result of a medication abortion. 

Kennedy said that removing adverse event reporting requirements “goes against everything we believe in this country.” 

“President Trump has made it clear to me that he is not taking a position yet on mifepristone, a detailed position, but he’s made it clear to me that he wants me to look at the safety issues, and I’ll ask [the National Institutes of Health] and FDA to do that,” said Kennedy. 

Sen. Catherine Cortez-Masto (D-NV) asked Kennedy about providing abortions in emergency circumstances under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, or EMTALA. The law sparked multi-year litigation between the Biden administration and states that have placed gestational age limits on actively terminating viable pregnancies. 

Kennedy said that he did not believe he would have enforcement power as head of HHS. Cortez-Masto said he would have sweeping enforcement power to ensure that hospitals that receive Medicare and Medicaid funding comply with the law. 

“I serve at the pleasure of the president,” said Kennedy. “I am going to implement his policies.”

Fumbles on Medicare and Medicaid

Kennedy made his largest blunder when answering questions from Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), a physician, regarding the Medicare and Medicaid programs.

Medicare is the federally managed health insurance program for seniors over 65 and people with certain disabilities. Medicare Advantage allows seniors to purchase private insurance plans with certain minimum coverage guarantees. Medicaid, by contrast, is a joint federal and state program that covers medical costs for low-income Americans, generally with little or no copays or premiums.  

Kennedy, a former environmental lawyer, mixed up details about Medicare, Medicare Advantage, and Medicaid, all of which are overseen by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services under HHS.

“Medicaid is not working for Americans, and it’s specifically not working for the target population. Most Americans, like myself – I’m on Medicare Advantage [and] I’m very happy with it. Most people who are on Medicaid are not happy. The premiums are too high, the deductibles are too high, the networks are too narrow. The best doctors will not accept it,” said Kennedy. 

Cassidy asked several detailed questions about Medicare and Medicaid. The Louisiana senator is a key vote for Kennedy’s confirmation process as chairman of the HELP Committee, but he has been reticent to express his views on Kennedy since the November election. 

Wyden urged his colleagues not to vote for Kennedy, in part because of Kennedy’s mistakes on Medicare and Medicaid.

“I find your presentation to be both untrustworthy and unprepared because my colleagues have been seeing back and forth between Medicare and Medicaid, and it’s not clear which program you’re using when,” said Wyden.

Several other senators asked Kennedy about Medicaid in light of Republican proposals to cut federal funding for the state-administered program in order to make room in the budget for Trump’s proposed tax cuts. 

Kennedy said that he believes Medicaid is “a critical program” but ultimately dodged questions regarding cuts to the social welfare program. 

“It’s not up to me to cut Medicaid,” said Kennedy. “It’s up to Congress.” 

Dodges recusal from financial conflicts of interest

Kennedy would not commit to giving up lucrative referral and contingency fees from lawsuits against vaccine and drug makers, which have netted him more than $2.5 million in the last two years alone with firm Wisner Baum.

In an ethics agreement approved by the Office of Government Ethics, Kennedy said he will retain a 10% contingency fee with Wisner Baum so long as cases do not involve the federal government. Wisner Baum is suing pharmaceutical company Merck over its human papillomavirus vaccine Gardasil, which protects against cervical cancer.

As HHS secretary, Kennedy would be head of an agency that regulates Merck and the broader pharmaceutical industry.

“If you’re asking me not to sue pharmaceutical companies,” Kennedy told Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), to which the senator interjected: “No, I am not.”

“You’re asking me to not sue drug companies, and I’m not going to do that, senator,” Kennedy added.

Warren responded: “Kennedy can kill off access vaccines and make millions of dollars while he does it. Kids might die, but Robert Kennedy can keep cashing in.”

Addresses farmer concerns

Several senators, including Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Ron Johnson (R-WI), expressed trepidation that Kennedy’s agenda on reforming ultra-processed foods would harm the bottom line of farmers across the country. Kennedy sought to assuage those concerns. 

“Farmers are using seeds and chemicals that, over the long term, are costing them and us,” Kennedy said. “What we need to do is support the farmers. We need the farmers as partners if we’re going to make MAHA [Make America Healthy Again] work.” 

Farm policy falls under the Department of Agriculture, but Kennedy said that he wants “to partner with all of my decisions with USDA, with the farm community to make sure we don’t lose more farmers in this country.” 

Kennedy added that he wants to work with USDA to incentivize regenerative agriculture for health benefits for the food system and for the health of farmers.