Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) suggested over the weekend that he was not closed off to confirming Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be the next Secretary of Health and Human Services.
Sanders left the possibility open during a Sunday interview on CBS News’ “Face The Nation” with host Margaret Brennan.
“I have, up to now, voted for some Trump appointees. A few,” Sanders said. “I voted against most, and I’ll make my decisions next week. Where Kennedy is right is, we are an unhealthy society — a point I’ve been making, many others have been making for a long time. One of the things that concerns me very much, and Kennedy mentioned it, is our life expectancy. How long our people live is five years less than other wealthy countries.”
“And if you’re working class in this country, you live six or seven years lower than if you are rich,” he continued.
“It is an issue we have to deal with. And I think the kind of addictive and poisonous food that the food industry is providing our kids is one of the factors, not many. But when you have Kennedy come forward in saying he cannot — he believes, continues to believe that autism is caused by vaccines despite the fact that there have been a dozen studies over the years which disprove that. When he has other conspiracy theories, when he cannot acknowledge that if you’re going to make America healthy, you’ve got to guarantee health care to all people. He was not clear about the need to take on the greed of the pharmaceutical industry and lower prescription drug costs. So I was not particularly happy with his presentation.”
When asked if some of Kennedy’s responses were “red lines” for him, Sanders responded: “I just don’t go around making these announcements.”
“I will vote when I’ll vote,” he said. “But anybody who watched that hearing understands my deep concerns about Kennedy, but I got to tell you, the conspiracy theories that he is throwing out is not unlike what we’re hearing all over the Trump administration. And to me, what is most important in terms of what’s been happening since Trump has been president, it’s not just him having the three wealthiest people in the country stand behind them. By the way, anybody, any working person in this country, should understand what that means. It means that you can have a government working for the very rich, not for the working class of this country, but the movement toward authoritarianism.”
WATCH:
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) won’t say whether he will vote to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health secretary, but he still has “deep concerns” about Kennedy’s stances on vaccines and other health issues.
“The conspiracy theories that he is throwing out, it’s not unlike what… pic.twitter.com/YAr0d6TkBM
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) February 2, 2025
