west palm beach, florida
CNN
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President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be the next Secretary of Health and Human Services, a choice that joins Trump’s list of provocative picks and has been challenged by Senate Republicans during the confirmation process. Their loyalty will be tested.
President Trump announced the pick on Thursday, confirming CNN’s previous report and saying he was excited to share the pick.
“The safety and health of all Americans is the most important role for any administration, and HHS is dedicated to ensuring that everyone is protected from harmful chemicals, contaminants, pesticides, pharmaceuticals, and food additives. “It will play a major role in helping support this nation’s overwhelming health crisis,” Trump said in a post to X. Kennedy will restore these institutions to a gold standard scientific research tradition and beacon of transparency, end the epidemic of chronic disease, and make America great and healthy again! ”
Kennedy, who accepted the offer Thursday, has long been one of the most prominent anti-vaccine conspiracy theorists in the United States and has frequently spread false conspiracy theories about the safety and effectiveness of vaccines. He has been in Palm Beach, Florida, for several days after the election.
In a statement Thursday, Kennedy emphasized the importance of rooting out “corruption” from the department and vowed to “provide transparency to the American people” so that individuals can make decisions about their health.
“I will work with HHS’s more than 80,000 employees to lift the agency from the cloud of corporate takeover and enable it to pursue its mission of making Americans once again the healthiest people on earth. I’m looking forward to it,” Kennedy said.
If confirmed as the nation’s top public health official, Kennedy would oversee the administration of the Affordable Care Act, Medicare and Medicaid. President Trump has distanced himself from pursuing a complete repeal of Obamacare, but it remains to be seen whether he and health officials will announce plans to improve the law, as he promised during his campaign.
Mr. Kennedy will also be involved in any changes President Trump and Congressional Republicans seek to make to Medicaid, which provides health insurance to low-income Americans. During President Trump’s first term, the agency tried to set work requirements but was largely blocked by the courts, and lawmakers unsuccessfully sought to cut funding for the program. The program covers about 72.5 million Americans and is expected to be a target of President Trump’s second term, especially as he seeks savings to supplement tax cuts that Republicans plan to implement. .
Kennedy’s choice, first reported by Politico, came just days before the election when Trump’s transition co-chairman, Howard Lutnick, told CNN that Kennedy had “a job in the HHS”. This is noteworthy considering that he said, “I have not done so.”
“Isn’t he the head of HHS?” he was asked on “The Source with Kaitlan Collins.”
“No, of course not,” Lutnick said.
See Kerry Kennedy’s warning about her brother and Trump.
The answer caused an uproar within President Trump’s orbit, and he made it clear to Kennedy that he would make the final decision.
Kennedy launched her own presidential bid last year, first as a Democratic challenger to President Joe Biden and then as an independent, primarily focused on reversing the “chronic disease epidemic.” . He proposed a number of policies aimed at overhauling food safety and environmental guidelines, promoting integrated medicine, and redirecting public funding to vaccine research.
In the final stages of Mr. Kennedy’s campaign, Mr. Kennedy met with Mr. Trump multiple times to discuss the possibility of Mr. Kennedy endorsing Mr. Trump in exchange for a role in his administration. Kennedy suspended his campaign in August and endorsed Trump the same day.
In October, while speaking at a rally in New York City’s Madison Square Garden, President Trump teased that Kennedy would oversee the public health portfolio, telling the audience that Kennedy was “enthusiastic about health” and “enthusiastic about food.” “It will make people excited about health,” he said. If re-elected, he will be “violent with drugs.”
Shares of prominent vaccine makers plummeted on Thursday after President Trump announced he had selected Kennedy for the top health post.
Since Election Day, Kennedy has promised to take major steps to restructure the country’s public health guidelines. President Kennedy last week said he would begin research into the vaccine’s safety and effectiveness “immediately,” but promised “we will not take it away from anyone.” He also promised to formally recommend that state and local governments remove fluoride from public waters.
President Kennedy also cited significant employee turnover in public health agencies. In an interview with MSNBC, he said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s “division of nutrition” would be cut in its workforce. Speaking at a conference in Arizona on Saturday, President Kennedy proposed replacing 600 National Institutes of Health employees with hand-picked staff.
In an interview with NPR News after the election, Kennedy outlined his areas of focus during the Trump administration.
“President Trump gave me three instructions,” Kennedy said. “He wants to rid the regulator of corruption and conflict. He wants to return the agency to the golden rules of empirical, evidence-based science and medicine for which it was once famous. And he wants to have a measurable impact on reducing chronic disease and end the chronic disease epidemic within two years.”
This story has been updated with additional developments.
CNN’s Tami Luhby and Kaanita Iyer contributed to this report.
