In a rare bi-partisan challenge to the Trump administration’s people and policy, voices were raised and tensions flared in a three-hour U.S. Senate hearing Thursday featuring U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
In addition to being challenged by Republican Sens. John Barrasso and Bill Cassidy, both physicians, over the recent firing of the director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and restrictions on the latest Covid-19 vaccine, New Mexico’s Sen. Ben Ray Luján sparred with Kennedy over the role of non-medical staff to review medical studies.
During a particularly tense moment when both Luján and Kennedy were speaking over each other, Kennedy fired at Luján, “You are speaking gibberish.”
Luján quipped back that perhaps he should slow down so the secretary could “understand me through my New Mexico accent.”
Watch the exchange from C-SPAN (the testy exchange over language occurs in the final minute).
After the testy exchange, Luján concluded his remarks with this observation: “I’m going to pray for you, Secretary Kennedy. I hope we do better. I want you to do better. But today was a failure for you, man.”
It wasn’t a failure for Kennedy. Lujan was asking Kennedy to provide data. Kennedy told him over and over the data was available to the public and Lujancould get it himself. Lujan wouldn’t listen. I have contacted lujan before when I needed help. No reply whatsoever. He is useless.
The data Senator Lujan asked for is not public. Kennedy was lying. Your personal problem with Lujan is coloring your ability to pay attention to what was really going on here.
Lujan is a loser. Proven over and over again. A crap dealer is all he is.
As a health care provider with 30 years of clinical experience, I am not only terrified by this destruction of our public health infrastructure, but deeply embarrassed that this incompetent, belligerent wrecking ball was put in charge of HHS.
The C-SPAN video is not showing up here.