In the second day of the Senate confirmation hearing of Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) desperately wanted to know whether Kennedy Jr. would be committed to providing health care to every single American whether they could pay for it or not.
“If we want to make America healthy, will you assure the American people that you will fight to do what every other major country on Earth does, guarantee health care to every single American?” Sanders asked.
“I’m going to make America healthier than other countries in the world,” Kennedy Jr. said. “Right now…”
“Will you guarantee, do what every other major country does,” Sanders followed up. “It’s a simply question.”
This is when Kennedy Jr. went rogue and called out Sanders for a bit of hypocrisy when it comes to money and pharmaceutical companies.
“By the way, Bernie,” Kennedy Jr. said beginning his aside, “you know, the problem of corruption is not just in the federal agencies, it’s in Congress, too. Almost all the members of this panel are accepting, including yourself, are accepting millions of dollars from the pharmaceutical industry.”
Related: RFK Jr. on Trump EO to Declassify JFK, RFK & MLK Jr. Files: 'He is Keeping His Promise'
After a little argumentative back and forth between the pair, Kennedy Jr. pointed out a very interesting statistic. Sanders then attempted to explain the issue.
“I got millions and millions of contributions,” Sanders said. “They did not come from the executives, not one nickel of PAC money from the pharmaceutical industry. They came from workers.”
“In 2020, you were the single largest receiver of pharmaceutical money,” Kennedy Jr. defiantly responded.
“Contributions from workers all over this country!” Sanders retorted. “Workers, not a nickel from corporate PACs.”
“Bernie, you were the single largest acceptor of pharmaceutical dollars,” Kennedy Jr. followed up.
Doing some due diligence, political money tracker Open Secrets did in fact report that between 2019 and 2020, Sanders was the largest recipient of “Money from Pharmaceuticals/Health Products” by a healthy margin.
Follow Us On X
Elon Musk says he doesn’t want it when asked about his nomination for a Nobel Peace Prize.
— MRCTV (@mrctv) January 30, 2025
https://t.co/7t8gfwy2DT