New Mexico Senator Martin Heinrich took to the Senate floor yesterday to voice strong opposition to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination to lead the nation’s top health agency.
Despite the senator’s screed, Kennedy was approved by the senate this morning.
Heinrich criticized what he said was Kennedy’s history of spreading vaccine misinformation, linking him to a deadly measles outbreak in Samoa in 2019 that took the lives of 83 people, many of them young children.
“I hope all of my colleagues take seriously what it would mean to confirm this anti-vaccine, anti-science snake oil salesman as our next Secretary of Health and Human Services.”
Heinrich accused Kennedy of promoting baseless conspiracy theories about vaccines and public health, including the debunked claim that vaccines cause autism.
He also pointed to Kennedy’s past statements linking antidepressants to mass shootings and claiming that chemicals in water influence sexual orientation—claims widely discredited by experts.
Heinrich also expressed concern that Kennedy would support deep cuts to health programs that serve millions of Americans, including Medicaid and Medicare.
According to Forbes, Sen. Susan Collins, of Maine, decided to vote to approve Kennedy after he told her that he would take a second look at the White House’s plans to make deep cuts to the National Institutes of Health.
