“Either you’re lying, or you’re not the one making decisions,” Democratic Sen. Patty Murray told Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
When Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sat down with CBS News last month, the network’s chief medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook, pressed the Cabinet secretary on some of his most controversial decisions from recent months. RFK Jr., however, repeatedly said he wasn’t aware of the actions LaPook was describing.
Last week, the spectacularly unqualified HHS secretary ran into a similar problem during back-to-back appearances before House and Senate committees: Lawmakers kept asking Kennedy about steps he and his department have taken, and he kept responding with answers such as “When did I do that?” and “I don’t know about that.”
This week, it happened yet again, during Kennedy’s appearance before the Senate Appropriations Committee. Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, for example, asked about HHS cutting funding for ALS research. The secretary said the senator’s question was the first he’d heard about this.
As the hearing progressed, and the problem persisted, Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington raised a highly provocative point.
“Secretary Kennedy, listening to your testimony last week frankly left me pretty confused and concerned about what’s happening at your department,” the senator said. “You repeatedly claimed that staffing and funding cuts that have been reported on publicly and even confirmed by [HHS] staff are not happening. So either you’re lying, or you’re not the one making decisions.”