WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senator Jim Banks (R-Ind.) questioned President Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP):
Click the image above for the full questioning
Key Excerpts:
Senator Jim Banks: “President Trump is a man of his word. He always follows through on what he says he’s going to do. And one of the things he said he was going to do was put you front and center in this administration to Make America Healthy Again. And that’s why, at the end of the day, a lot of those moms have been here yesterday and today from Indiana to support you and this movement and that’s why you have my full support.”
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Sen. Banks: “One of the things I’ve thought a lot about…is the national security risk of an obese nation. 70% of our kids are not eligible today to serve in the United States military. The Army, two years ago, was 25% off of its recruitment goals, and obesity among our kids was one of the reasons why.”
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: “When my uncle was President, 3% of Americans were obese, and today 74% are obese or overweight. In Japan, 3% are obese so what we’re seeing here is not happening elsewhere. American kids did not suddenly get gluttonous and lazy. Something is poisoning them, and we need to figure that out.”
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Sen. Banks: “The biggest existential threat to America is the Chinese Communist Party. Right now, we’re importing one-third of our medicines from China and even more of our generic drugs come from China. It’s a public health risk and a national security risk. What can you do as HHS Secretary to reduce our reliance on China and help our domestic manufacturers?
RFK Jr.: This is a huge priority for President Trump. He sees this as perhaps our greatest national security vulnerability. Over the past few years, so much of our critical, essential medicines—the production of them and the supply chains—have been exported to China. And it’s a crisis now in our country. If there’s a pandemic, if there’s a war, if there’s any conflicts, China will now be able to ransom American health and that is not a good situation. We need to bring that production home and President Trump is committed to doing just that.”
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Sen. Banks: “Sir, I think you’re going to have a tough job. You have my full support. You’re going to have lawmakers against you, you’re going to have bureaucrats against you, you’re going to be working with the limits of the administrative state at the Department, but I’ll have your back and I want to work with you to get it done.”