Video: Kaine Speaks on Senate Floor in Opposition to RFK, Jr. to Secretary of Health and Human Services

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WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA), a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, spoke on the Senate floor in opposition to President Trump’s nomination of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

“I don’t believe Mr. Kennedy can separate fact from fiction. I don't believe Mr. Kennedy can separate conspiracy from content,” Kaine said. “Now, you wouldn't want someone suffering from that challenge in any position of leadership at any level of government—local, state, or federal. But this particular position, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, one of the most important positions in the nation as it respects to people's physical and mental health, is exactly the wrong kind of a position for someone who can't tell fact from fiction or content from conspiracy.”

Kaine continued, “… the American public needs to be able to rely on HHS and other critical agencies for information that is not just about the state of their savings account or housing costs. This is about life and death.”

Kaine then discussed the Gardasil vaccine, which is manufactured in Virginia and protects Americans from certain cancers caused by HPV, and raised concerns about RFK, Jr.’s previous comments on Gardasil. Kaine said, “[RFK, Jr.] has said that the vaccination is one of the most dangerous vaccines ever created. He has said that it’s dangerous and defective. On one of his website articles on his blog, he said that ‘it is inescapable that Gardasil kills girls.’ …He cannot separate fact from fantasy, content from conspiracy.”

“This inability to tell the difference between fact and fiction and content and conspiracy would be dangerous enough if it was just about health information,” Kaine said. “But this individual’s inability to tell the difference between fact and fiction and between conspiracy and content is not just limited to health.”

Kaine then brought up a previous post from RFK, Jr. posted on July 5, 2024, in which he refused to “take a side” on 9/11 conspiracy theories. Kaine said, “A lot of Virginia families lost loved ones that day… I don’t take it very well when someone says they won’t take sides about 9/11—when someone admits it’s hard to tell what is a conspiracy theory and what isn’t.”

“If you cannot tell what happened on 9/11, if you decide to just freelance an opinion 23 years later, and tell the American public—and he’s running for president at the time—I will not take sides on 9/11, you should not have been nominated for this position in the first place,” said Kaine.

“This is a very, very dangerous vote that we will cast tomorrow. Of any position in the federal government that needs somebody who can tell the difference between fact and fiction, conspiracy and content, HHS Secretary is that position,” Kaine concluded. “And Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. so badly flunks the test of what is needed—careful, reasoned information that people can count on—that I urge my colleagues, even if you voted in a committee, even if you voted on a procedural resolution to move this to the floor, stop now. You can still stop now. Don’t hurt this country. Don’t hurt the health of this country by putting someone in office who can’t even understand what happened on 9/11.”

Kaine pressed RFK, Jr. on his previous statements regarding 9/11 and the Gardasil vaccine during RFK, Jr.’s nomination hearing. Last week, Kaine joined his colleagues in pressing RFK, Jr. over his conflicts of interest related to anti-vaccine lawsuits and his plan to transfer stake in anti-vaccine lawsuits to his son.

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