[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 29 (Wednesday, February 12, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S876-S877]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                      Nomination of Tulsi Gabbard

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I know I spoke a little while ago on 
Tulsi Gabbard, but I feel so strongly, I just wanted to make one last 
plea to my Republican colleagues.
  In a moment, the Senate will vote to confirm Tulsi Gabbard as the 
next Director of National Intelligence. Every single Democrat, I am 
really proud to say, will oppose this awful nomination because we 
simply cannot, in good conscience, trust our most classified secrets to 
someone who echoes Russian propaganda and falls for conspiracy 
theories.
  It is hard to believe, of all the talented and capable people, that 
this is the person nominated. It is a person who has said things like: 
The Ukraine invasion was caused by the United States, not by Putin. It 
is somebody who has denied Assad's use of chemical weapons, despite all 
of the intelligence. It is someone who echoes Russian propaganda and 
falls for crazy conspiracy theories.
  I say to my Republican colleagues, please think once again about this 
nomination. This endangers our security. And my guess is, if a secret 
ballot were cast on Tulsi Gabbard, maybe she would get 10 votes. You 
all know how bad she is.
  And so I know that people feel they want to please the President in 
his nomination, but there are certain times you have to buck and stand 
up and say: No, this is just a very bad choice for America. And the 
nomination of Ms. Gabbard is simply one of those.
  I plead with my colleagues--I know it is the last minute--to think 
twice, to vote no, as we all will vote, because this is such an awful 
nomination, who will endanger our national security and our 
intelligence operations throughout the country and the world.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                  Nomination of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I rise today to oppose the nomination of 
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., to be the Secretary of the Department of Health 
and Human Services.
  And let me put it very bluntly to my colleagues: A vote for Robert 
Kennedy for this position is a vote for a sicker America. And there is 
irony in that judgment, considering Mr. Kennedy is the figurehead of a 
mass movement known as Make America Healthy Again. But on issue after 
issue, Mr. Kennedy refused to stand up for policies that will keep 
Americans healthy and out of the hospital.
  From vaccines to affordable health insurance, to lower drug prices, 
to women's reproductive healthcare, Mr. Kennedy--through several 
hearings--ducked and dodged and weaved instead of answering the basic 
questions that came from Senators of both parties. When he did answer, 
he demonstrated a shocking lack of knowledge about the

[[Page S877]]

Federal health programs he would be charged with running and a willful 
desire to mislead Senators about his views on science matters like 
vaccine safety.
  The only conclusion I am left with is that he stands steadfastly by 
the outlandish views he has expressed over his two-decade career as an 
anti-vaccine crusader, and he is fully prepared to implement the 
Republican healthcare agenda.
  That agenda boils down to putting Big Pharma and insurance companies 
back in charge, while leaving millions of American families to fend for 
themselves without affordable care.
  And I want to be clear about this. Going back to my days as director 
of the Gray Panthers, which is what I did before I went into public 
service, I can just tell you, this is the least qualified nominee to 
ever be nominated for a position of this importance. So for the next 
day and night, Senate Democrats are going to be on the floor telling 
the American people why.
  Our colleagues on the other side of the aisle still have an 
opportunity to turn away from this dangerous path. If they do not, my 
view is their legacy will be tarnished by setbacks in science that will 
echo in America for decades.
  As I mentioned, I spent countless hours as a young man working with 
seniors to navigate the newly created Medicare Program and help them 
avoid predatory insurance company tactics that remain all too common 
today. To me and many other Americans, healthcare, colleagues, is the 
most important issue, because if you and your loved ones don't have 
their health, everything else goes by the boards.
  The reality is we need to make sure that Americans have the best and 
most affordable healthcare possible, rather than having a handful of 
healthcare companies gobble up the entire market for health insurance, 
pharmaceuticals, hospitals, and even doctors.
  The results have been great for shareholder profits and disastrous 
for American families. Costs keep climbing. The act of getting a 
doctor's appointment or filing an insurance claim seems to have become 
an Olympic sport in much of America. The system delays and denies care 
and rakes in profits, while patients are left wondering how they are 
going to get the care they need.
  So the question before the Senate now is whether we want America's 
chief health officer to be somebody who is going to take on those 
corporate interests, somebody who is going to fight tooth and nail to 
lower costs and improve care, somebody who is going to work to protect 
and improve the Federal healthcare programs that tens of millions of 
Americans rely on and not gut them.
  Everything I have seen and heard from Mr. Kennedy over these last few 
weeks has led me, colleagues, to conclude he is not the person that 
America needs. Americans have little reason to take Mr. Kennedy at his 
word. They do, however, have every reason to believe Mr. Kennedy will 
continue to embrace and amplify anti-vaccine programs, every reason to 
believe that he will back up Donald Trump's abortion bans. Every reason 
to believe that he will be a rubberstamp for the Republican health 
agenda that would rip away the healthcare of so many Americans.
  Over the course of the rest of the day and through the night, 
Democrats are going to show the American people why these concerns are 
so serious.
  I yield the floor, and I urge my colleagues to oppose this 
nomination.