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Washington, D.C. – Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, today pressed Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. Senator Blunt Rochester, a former member of the House Health Subcommittee and the former Deputy Secretary of the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services, pushed Kennedy on the depth of his understanding of key health care policy, his intentions when it comes to protecting women who need emergency care, and his commitment to addressing health disparities.
Senator Blunt Rochester: “Thank you, Chairman Cassidy, and Ranking Member Sanders. Mr. Kennedy, during our meeting, you shared your vision for the Department, and we discussed priorities important to my home state of Delaware. But I must say, as a former cabinet secretary and a health official in my state, listening to your answers today in this hearing, I am deeply concerned and shocked by your apparent lack of understanding of, frankly, some of the basic, the basic responsibilities of the department.
“[The Department of Health and Human Services is] the largest most complex [federal agency]. Yesterday, during your Finance [Committee] hearing, and today, you confused details about Medicare and Medicaid, you didn’t know what authorities you have under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act known as EMTALA, [and] you made false claims about the safety of mifepristone. However, what concerns me the most as a mom and a first-time grandmother is your decades long track record of promoting vaccine misinformation and profiting from it despite the harms that it may cause to American children…”
Senator Blunt Rochester: “In yesterday’s hearing, you did not seem to know anything about EMTALA even though I raised it with you during our meeting last week. So, I’ll give you another opportunity. Yes or no, do you believe that a person presenting to an emergency room with a severe illness should have any type of emergency care needed to save their life?”
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr: “Any American who-”
Senator Blunt Rochester: “Yes or no?”
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr: “I’m answering the question.”
Senator Blunt Rochester: “Yes or no was the direction.”
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr: “Under the law, every American who presents to an emergency room must be treated. And I enforce that law. And I believe that’s the right thing to do.”
Senator Blunt Rochester: “Do you agree that a person who is experiencing severe pregnancy complications should be able to receive emergency care to save their life, if that care is an abortion?”
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr: “My understanding of President Trump’s policy is that-”
Senator Blunt Rochester: “I’m not asking President Trump’s policy. I’m asking you what do you believe?”
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr: “Yeah, if it’s necessary to save the life of the mother.”
Senator Blunt Rochester: “So, you do believe-”
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr: “Yes, they should.”
Senator Blunt Rochester: “Do you commit to ensuring that pregnant women will have access to all necessary emergency care, including an abortion, if it is required to save their life.”
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr: “If it’s required to save their life.”
Senator Blunt Rochester: “And would you agree that the ability to provide quality emergency care for pregnant women is essential to preventing maternal mortality?”
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr: “Providing care for pregnant women? We should be providing care for pregnant women, and President Trump wants to do that.”
Senator Blunt Rochester: “Bottom line for me, women should not be forced to rely on emergency airlifts, to other states for life saving care. And to be blunt, in our meeting, your lack of understanding, really again, was very concerning.”
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