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cancel the ones you don't want right through the app, and it can even help you try and get a refund. >> have i got news for you? >> it's back for a new season. whether you like it or not. >> are those the only two choices? >> yes. you like it or you don't. >> i'm on the fence. >> this is going to be a. >> long season. >> have i got news for you returns february 15th on cnn. >> five good things. listen,

wherever you get your podcasts. >> well good morning. you are live in the cnn newsroom. pamela brown is on assignment. i'm phil mattingly in washington. and we begin with the breaking news on capitol hill. robert f. kennedy jr. just cleared a major hurdle in his path to become health and human services secretary. the senate finance committee advancing his nomination along party lines. and it all came down to gop senator bill cassidy, who ultimately voted yes. i want to go straight to cnn's manu raju on capitol hill. manu, what more are we learning about cassidy's decision to vote yes? >> well, this was a surprise. well, for people on both sides, they really did not know how he would ultimately come down because he had been struggling with this nomination. he said that publicly last week. he had not made a decision on that as of last night. this morning, he indicated in a post on x that he had had a number of conversations all up until this

critical vote, and he posted on social media saying that he had intense conversations with bobby kennedy over the weekend, as well as with the white house. he said he'd received some, quote, serious commitments from the administration. he also indicated that he spoke to the vice president, jd vance, in order to get to. yes, but he really has not tipped his hand other than that he did talk to us very briefly coming out of this high stakes moment where he voted to advance this nomination to the senate floor and indicated that he would be speaking on the senate floor in just a matter of moments. listen. >> senator, how did you get how did you get to. yes. how did you get to? yes, i will. >> be speaking on the floor at 1140. >> okay. but what about you. >> were troubled last week. >> what changed? what changed? what changed? >> hey, guys. >> make a hole. >> make a hole. sorry about. >> and one of the big questions is what did rfk jr. tell him behind the scenes? because what bill cassidy raised concerns about was the issue of vaccines.

cassidy up for reelection in 2026. also a medical doctor, someone who had raised issues about kennedy hedging at last week's hearings, not saying directly that vaccines do not cause childhood autism. of course, kennedy has long expressed those views of vaccine skepticism. how did those conversations happen behind the scenes? we'll be watching, of course, his comments on the senate floor later this hour to see if he shed any light on that. but phil, the senate majority leader, john thune, wants to move on this nomination by early next week, which means he'll get the job unless four republicans break ranks and stop this nomination on the senate floor. phil. >> yeah, a huge step forward. we'll wait about 36 minutes to hear if cassidy outlines the serious commitments he posted on x that he received. manu raju great reporting as always, my friend. thanks so much. now to an in-depth look at the federal government under president trump, rapidly changing almost every day right before our eyes or oftentimes behind the scenes, we hear about it later. it's only been two weeks at the center of it all. the

billionaire special government employee elon musk. now cnn is learning more about his extensive expansive reach and those who are helping him complete his mission. a group of inexperienced college age engineers. now, here's a look at what musk and his allies have done over the past several days. they have gained full access to the treasury's payment systems, threaten to shut down usaid, offered all federal employees a buyout like plan, and pushed aside career civil servants in several agencies. there are reports that president trump and musk will next turn their attention to the department of education. joining us now is tech reporter for the new york times, ryan mack and powers and platforms reporter at wired. victoria elliott, i appreciate you guys both joining me right now. victoria, i want to start with you. you have been very frustrating for me personally with all of the news that you've broken on this front, which has made it more difficult for me on a day to day basis. >> apologies. >> yeah. it's okay. what you

have found and what you've been reporting on, particularly in terms of the teams that are at these agencies. and i think that they have been kind of moving agency to agency. it's tough to track them at some point. what stands out to you about what you've been told? yeah. >> so i think the biggest thing is as. wired sort of first reported, people in the general services administration, which controls a ton of stuff for the government, whether that's, you know, its actual property or, you know, deals with this, i.t. systems that people in these agencies didn't necessarily know who was being brought in. sometimes they were on calls with people whose names they didn't recognize. and one instance that we know of didn't even have a government email on the call. so i think the thing that stands out to me is, you know, this has been a pretty opaque process for the public, right? you know, we as the public have not had a ton of information about how doge was going to operate or how musk and his allies were going to operate. but i think what's really astounding is that the

federal workforce actually are similarly in the dark and feel quite afraid. >> yeah. >> you mentioned the gsa, the kind of meetings that they've been having where the point person on the tech division is meeting with them, and there's the two kind of assistants that are with him, or advisors that are with him that don't actually give their full names, according to people. we've been talking to these young kind of engineers that they've been working with. it's a it's a fascinating dynamic and one we just there's no precedent for it. and that's why, ryan, it's so interesting to talk to you because there is precedent for musk taking this course of action. and you can read about it in your book. and the number of times that i've been told things that are happening at gsa or opm or omb, and i think i feel like i've read that somewhere, and it's almost inevitably in your book with kate conger. is that fair? is this very similar to what you saw at twitter i think. >> it's the almost. >> exact same. playbook we've seen play out in elon musk's twitter takeover. you know, down to the email subject line, fork

in the road, which is something that government employees got the other day. you know, that's a very similar email to the one that was sent to twitter employees offering them buyouts in the weeks after he bought the company. you know, we see the same players as well. folks like steve davis, kind of one of elon musk's right hand men, one of his lieutenants who is in charge of cost cutting. you have steve davis's wife, nicole hollander, who is also at gsa overseeing buildings and real estate, which is something she did at twitter. um, you know, it's very similar to what's going on and what's happened in the past. i also think about something like a technique that they're using to zero out budgets called zero based budgeting. so you know, with elon, it's not like he is deploying a whole new set of tricks here. we've we've seen this before at at tesla and spacex. and of course the twitter takeover. >> you know vitoria to ryan's point, i remember getting a call saying we have a steven davis in the gsa directory. we have a nicole hollander in the

directory. we don't know if it's steve davis and nicole hollander, but we're pretty sure they do. and they have gsa email addresses. and i feel like there's been a lot of that where career officials, senior career officials are finding out through second or third hand. they don't really associate much with the musk team, as they're kind of operating right now. the biggest question i have is i would constantly think to myself, yeah, but this is the government. like private sector is one thing. a private company is one thing. this is the government. there's a way that things work is this. is that not true? here? >> i mean, there are many systems and processes and protocols in terms of how things are supposed to work. but i think one of the things that musk and the doge team have been really explicit about demonstrating through how they're going about this, is that they don't think those systems should apply to them. and i think, you know, musk and his allies have really made a big deal about sort of bringing

these ideals of the private sector. and, you know, particularly of this sort of cost cutting analysis and ethos to the government. but, you know, silicon valley is the place of move fast and break things, but it's very different when you're breaking a startup that people are still learning how to use if they're new users and stuff, it's very different than breaking systems that possibly tens if not hundreds of millions of people rely on. and i think, you know, as much as maybe you could argue that there are ways in which the government could be more efficient, ways that it could be improved. the downsides of getting it wrong are just so much bigger. and that's the reason that so many protocols and processes are in place to make sure that people who have access to certain data are vetted, to make sure that people who are changing code in these systems are doing so in particular ways, because the consequences are just so much bigger. and i think a really

important thing to note, too, is a lot of these people are coming in from the private sector for what we understand. they may be special government employees, which means they're coming in on sort of a limited volunteer basis, and that means they're probably going to go back to their jobs at some point with knowledge and data that other companies don't have. and keep in mind, musk is a massive government contractor. spacex is a big government contractor. >> yeah. what's amazing is the scale of the conflicts. here is, again, also unprecedented. and yet we can almost barely get to them because you're so focused on just what they're trying to do day to day. right. you know, to victoria's point, the analog breaks down in the sense of twitter was a private company that musk took private. the federal government exists in these systems are in place because they're not just supporting the investments of your fellow investors. or if you're a public company, your stockholders. it is a a government wide approach that

involves payments like social security, payments like medicare and medicaid and cms. and i think the point of, yes, there are things that can be changed. there are certainly efficiencies that can be found, but it's not a private company and it's not a tech company. what happens when lawsuits come, when lawmakers try and do things? what what do you think musk's response will be? >> i think we're about to find out. i mean, that's the question of when these lawsuits will come, when there's going to be opposition to kind of this unelected, um, you know, involvement that he's had over the last couple of weeks. um, you know, the repercussions. but in the past, you know, what musk has done with, uh, you know, legal challenges is he's kind of brushed them aside. he has faced very little accountability in the past for, uh, you know, firing executives on the spot at twitter or, uh, withholding payments for rants at twitter, for example. you know, he's challenged all that in court or said he would or delayed and it's gotten him this far. and

so we may see that same kind of delay technique again, this or this willingness to openly flaunt laws or challenge them in courts. you know, he is someone that is largely unaccountable. he is the world's richest person who has an unlimited amount of resources available to him. and that kind of behavior has gotten him this far, and he'll continue to act that way moving forward. >> yeah. >> there's certainly no sense that he won't. the book was character limit kekionga ryan mac. it's a great book. highly suggest you read it. victoria elliott over at wired has been doing great reporting on this as well. guys, thanks so much for coming in. appreciate it. >> thank you so much for having me. >> thank you. >> well, i mentioned there are reports that president trump and musk will next turn their attention to the department of education. sources are telling cnn the move is part of a larger push by the white house to strip the federal workforce of all ties to diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility efforts. cnn's rene marsh joins us now. for more on this. rene. education department employees got word about this last week. what are they hearing?

>> yeah. so starting wednesday and into friday, employees started to get these emails which essentially said that they're being placed on paid administrative leave. at this point, the union president who represents these employees say that number is about at 75 of these department of education employees. but that's a low ball number, because that just represents people who are actually members of the union. there are likely many, many more. these employees received this email. they were locked out of their email accounts after they received it. and then they were told that they would be put on paid administrative leave for an indefinite period of time. however, the union is pointing out that many of these employees who were targeted in this round of paid leave didn't even work on dei related issues. according to the union, you have one employee who worked in a grant office not related to dei. another worked at integrating a.i. into education, something that's really top of mind for

schools right now. there was an attorney who was focused on discrimination complaints. she says the common denominator amongst the people she's spoken to who have been impacted is that they attended a two day training session in 2019, and if you do the math, that was during the first trump administration. and then they did a refresher under the biden administration, and they were encouraged to take this. and so they believe, looking back, that that is likely the reason why, that they have been singled out to be placed on paid administrative leave. i just want to say we reached out to the department of education, and here's what they're telling us. they said that they're evaluating staff in line with the commitment to prioritizing meaningful learning ahead of divisive ideology in schools and putting students outcomes above special interests. >> all right. >> keep us posted. a lot of stuff going on in the education department right now, including as we've been reporting on elon musk heading that way. it seems

shortly as well. rene marsh, great reporting as always. thank you so much. well, still ahead this hour. scattered smothered, covered. and now more expensive. say it ain't so. the bird flu egg shortage is now affecting waffle houses across the country. no. a live report next. >> welcome back. >> have i got news for you returns february 15th on cnn. >> you'll be back. emus can't help people customize and save with liberty mutual. >> and doug. >> well, i'll be. >> only pay for what you need. >> liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty. >> we handcraft every. >> stearns and foster using the finest. materials like indulgent. >> memory foam and ultra conforming inner springs for a beautiful mattress and indescribable comfort. save up to $800 on select adjustable mattress sets at stearns and foster.com. >> like a relentless weed. moderate to severe ulcerative colitis symptoms can keep coming

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now what you'll see on the menu there. that is a literal sticker shock saying you'll have to pay an extra $0.50 for every single egg. cnn's vanessa yurkevich joins us now. vanessa, i'm going to ask the hard questions. why? >> well. >> there are simply fewer. >> eggs. >> and eggs are. >> getting more expensive. >> waffle house. >> saying that they're going to have to raise prices on their eggs by. >> $0.50 per egg. >> and they're doing. this nationwide at their 2100 locations. >> and they're doing. >> this because of egg shortages and because of those rising costs. waffle house sells 272 million eggs. every single year. that's their. >> best selling. >> menu item. that's even double what they sell. >> in waffles. but the. >> company says that they're targeting. >> eggs specifically. >> not raising prices across the menu, but just eggs because. >> they're hoping to fill. >> that this is temporary, that they will be able to. >> take this surcharge off. >> but this is all because of the deadly avian flu virus. this

virus has wreaked havoc on egg laying birds for about a year or two now. but in november and december of last year, phil, there was such an increase in the virus and about 17 million egg laying birds were killed. that's about half. of all birds that were killed in of of last year. that just signals that this virus is resurging and it's forcing restaurants and major restaurants like waffle house to really reconsider their prices. they're saying that this was a tough decision, but they were forced into this decision. phil. they had to raise prices in order to offset these rising egg costs. >> yeah, that's a significant market disruption. do we have any sense of whether that the cost will change anytime soon? >> i wish i had better news for you, but the answer is no because it takes about nine months to rebuild these flocks, these egg laying bird flocks that were lost. so the usda is projecting that prices this year on eggs are going to rise by about 20%. so just to give

people a sense right now, about a dozen eggs nationwide for the average is about $4.15 for a dozen. that's up 14% from the month of november. and unfortunately, phil, the prices are just going to keep going up until we can replace these birds that are providing us with all of these eggs that we so desperately want. phil. >> yeah, vanessa. we're going to need better news out of you next time. please. vanessa yurkovich really appreciate it. thanks so much. well, still ahead, a chilling look inside a central american prison and the offer to the trump white house to deport some u.s. citizens here. you heard that right. you're in the cnn newsroom. >> with the boeing 747, has crashed in the lockerbie area. >> trying to find out the why of it became everything. >> nothing is what it seems in the lockerbie story. >> lockerbie, the bombing of pan am flight 103, february 16th on cnn. >> mornings. cough congestion. >> i'm feeling better all in

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now that's bargain bliss. ♪ grocery outlet bargain market work faster than old school pills. get $30 off at wrote kobe day. >> news night with abby phillip tonight at 10:00. >> eastern on cnn. >> this morning, the central american country of el salvador is making an unprecedented offer to the trump administration for a fee. it will house violent u.s. criminals and deportees of any nationality. the offer includes accepting convicted u.s. citizens, a scenario that is alarming, illegal and legal experts and human rights groups are trying to figure out what it actually means. right now, the country's president says he will use a notorious mega prison there. cnn's david culver actually visited that prison and takes us inside. >> all right. >> we're going to go in here. >> even as. >> i'm stepping through. >> these doors. >> i don't. >> fully grasp what we're about to walk into suddenly. >> you're hit with the intense

gaze of dozens locking on to you. these men, described as the worst of the worst, tattooed with reminders of el salvador's dark past. it's tense and uncomfortable. but here, officials say comfort isn't meant to exist. there's no mattresses, there's no sheets. you've got a toilet over here for them to go to the bathroom. you've got this basin here that they use to bathe themselves. and then you can see there there's a barrel of water that they can drink from. this is a rare look inside el salvador's terrorism confinement center, known as nick watt. he says there's always somebody standing here in front of the cells. and then if you look up, there's another corridor with more security personnel. los cuatro horas, cuatro 24 over seven. light. the prison sits like an isolated fortress nestled in mountainous terrain about an hour and a half drive from the capital. even with government officials on board with us, we're stopped a mile

out. okay, he's going to inspect bags now to. okay, we're clear to get back in. only to hit another checkpoint approaching the main gate. our cells vanish as they want to do a full search on us before we enter. >> see the. >> del total. >> once cleared, we tour the vast campus. it's been equated to seven football stadiums. it's almost multiple prisons within the prison. you can see off to the distance there's three different rings as they describe the far end. you have one that's nine meters high of concrete. and then above that three meters of electrified fencing. >> 15,000v. >> 15,000v, more than a thousand security personnel, guards, police and military are stationed on site. so that is just a sampling. our full pieces on cnn.com. i mean, it's surprising to be in that facility just to see how wide it

spreads. i mean, it's roughly seven football fields in total area. and we went into one of those units. and they have roughly eight of those in that entire space. so the campus still has a lot of potential to really widen out and take in more, which now we're hearing could actually be u.s. citizens and permanent residents. >> yeah, it was remarkable reporting at the time. the fact it's come back around in this moment that we're in. and, priscilla, i want to bring in priscilla alvarez. you've been covering kind of all the different aspects of the trump immigration policy every single step of the way. exhaustingly. so you have new reporting today about the military flights carrying migrants. what are you hearing? >> yeah. >> u.s. officials are telling me and my colleagues, natasha bertrand and haley britzky that a military flight. carrying migrants will be. >> heading to. >> guantanamo bay today. of course. >> remember president. >> donald trump last week announced and directed the government to set up or rather, to expand a base on guantanamo to hold migrants. there's already a migrant operation center that exists there. well,

they are outlining plans to expand that to 30,000 people. i have spoken with sources who say they are currently setting up multiple tents to hold migrants there. one of the questions that attorneys within the department of homeland security and the pentagon were working on over recent days was whether or not they really could take the step of taking someone from u.s. soil and taking them to guantanamo bay. well, it seems that they may have resolved that because there is a flight that we know is going to be headed there today. but this is part of a massive undertaking by this administration and an unprecedented one at that to set up such a massive facility not only for migrants interdicted at sea, which is how it has been used before, but to take people on u.s. soil to this base. >> david, you know, and priscilla's reported a ton on this about these safe third party agreements, which is part of what the el salvador leader is, is offering here as part of the negotiations that he had with secretary of state marco rubio. we've seen a couple of them come online in terms of el

salvador's posture with the united states. what do they want? what is that bilateral relationship? >> well, i mean, the initial exchanges for a fee. and they say it's going to be a nominal fee, really something the u.s. can afford and probably far cheaper than what we pay for imprisonment here in the states. but it also seems that they're pushing for nuclear power as well. so they're certainly going to use this. and they've worked with china as well in the past to try to see what el salvador and president bukele can gain from this. overall, though, i take a step back and i say, perhaps there's something bigger here, and that is that there's the messaging that the trump administration really wants to put out there. because if you look at two of the most popular people in latin america, it's president trump and president nayib bukele. both of them are seen as strongmen, as individuals who don't get pushed around easily. and so perhaps immigrants are even telling me this as recently as last week. this is going to be more of a deterrent factor than anything else. people who we spoke with said, because of what we're seeing with the deportation, because of then the potential that priscilla was reporting of, of deportees going to guantanamo. now you have a place that is iconic in latin america.

migrants are going to say more and more, this is not worth it. >> can i just also say that in speaking to trump officials, this is part of their grand strategy with latin america. they had been working on this for weeks before, even taking office. el salvador is key to that strategy. they feel as though it is one of their closest allies, that if they can work with them, then to your point, phil, they can start to get other countries to strike agreements with them, to send people from other of other nationalities to those countries. so el salvador is central to that strategy. when i was talking to a source about this agreement, they were telling me, well, tren de aragua, which is that venezuelan gang and one that the president has talked about often. well, this is a way to scare them by even throwing the idea of them being sent to this prison in el salvador. so certainly this is both a deterrent, but it's also part of the strategy that we are going to continue monitoring of how they build out these alliances in latin america. >> yeah. we talk so much about the domestic kind of the interior capacity of it. but i vividly remember you sitting in

my office like shortly after the election being like the third party agreements and how they're working through them. the carrots and sticks approach, plus the deterrent effect. this is thought out and very well. >> and might be scary to to priscilla's point. >> yeah. >> going through those holes it is. there's a piece of your soul i've heard described that that leaves you when you walk out of that space. it is it is not a pleasant space to be. >> you looked remarkably composed. >> that was on camera. then afterwards, i was catching my breath. to be honest. >> it was awesome. work. your pj, your photojournalist. >> contreras alvarado. >> yeah. thank you, david culver. alvarez. thanks, guys. appreciate it. well, in moments, gop senator bill cassidy will go to the senate floor and explain why he voted yes to advance robert f. kennedy jr.. s nomination to be hhs secretary after saying he had concerns about some of his views. we're going to bring it to you live. you see the senate floor on your screen right now. quick break. we'll be right back. >> cookbooks. >> corporate fat cats, swindling socialites, doped up cyclists, and yes, more crooked politicians. >> i have a feeling we won't be running out of those anytime soon.

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was. obviously, getting senators all in a quorum for one of these votes can sometimes be a little bit of wrangling on capitol hill. but as he sat down, you know, the room was just really tense inside, in part because a lot of people just were on the fence about what cassidy was going to do. moments before the vote, his office released a tweet saying that cassidy had been having intense conversations with the white house and was receiving serious commitments from the administration. so a couple of things that we're going to be watching really closely in this floor speech in just a couple of minutes, is more details about what some of those commitments were. obviously, there were two areas that cassidy really focused on in his questioning over the course of two days with rfk jr.. one of them was questions about what reforms kennedy would seek when it came to medicaid programs. and you really saw in that line of questioning cassidy, who has worked really hard on capitol hill to think about reforms to

that program, who has introduced legislation to introduce reforms to that program. he clearly was not satisfied with kennedy's answers, because kennedy seemed really confused between the medicare and medicaid program. so i'm interested to see if there's any commitments that he got on that. i'm also really interested to see whether or not cassidy got any kind of commitments from kennedy about vaccines, specifically vaccine safety and efficacy. any promises that he got from kennedy to use his megaphone? and these are, in cassidy's words, to really help educate americans rather than, you know, give them some distrust in the vaccine program for children across the united states. so those are some of the areas that i think are going to be really key to watch for. but, you know, i think it's always interesting to think and peek behind the curtain. who was cassidy talking to in those final days? he did say in his tweet that he had a lot of productive conversations with the vice president. we also know from our reporting that over the weekend, he had additional conversations with

rfk jr.. so just what were those commitments and what specifically was he promised? i think that's going to be really interesting. and let's not forget, cassidy is staring down reelection in 2026 and ruby red louisiana. and obviously, given his past vote to convict donald trump on impeachment the second time around, there's some questions about what kind of primary challenge he's going to be up against in the state. >> yeah, lauren, it's such a good point. and in a with any other member of either democratic or republican conference or caucus, you would say that's probably the driver here, right? you know, donald trump won that state by 22 points. cassidy already has a primary challenger. it's going to be a tough road no matter what. given kind of his position within trump world. and yet you've covered cassidy closer than anybody over the course of the last several years. i mean, he's the he's the guy that walks around with like the whiteboard and literally walks you through policy provisions related to risk pools or whatever issue. and so what do you think? do you think it was politics or do you think he

actually got substantive policy commitments? >> yeah, i think that's why the speech is going to be so important, phil, because there are so many times in cassidy's career where there are just some issues that are more important to him than the politics of a situation. i just think back to infrastructure. he injected himself in that bipartisan negotiation. when he does not come from a swing state. he comes from a republican, solidly republican state of louisiana. and donald trump, if you remember, came out against that bipartisan infrastructure deal that they struck. he still voted for it because, in his view, helping the state of louisiana shore up any kind of flood mitigation programs, helping them get that money directly to the state, that was more important. i also think back to 2017, house and senate republicans were struggling to pass an alternative to obamacare. he threw sort of a last ditch effort in graham-cassidy as an opportunity for republicans to rally around. a lot of his colleagues did not like that bill. ultimately, it didn't even get a vote on the floor. but that just kind of shows you he's sort of always working on policy, always thinking about what he wants to accomplish. and i do think

that's what made this such an interesting moment, because we really didn't know which way was he going to go. was the politics of the moment going to outweigh this, or was he really going to stick to his guns? on some of the concerns about rfk and vaccine skepticism.? >> man, the grant, the graham cassidy name check. that's that's a deep cut there. fox i those are some long nights for us back in the day. lauren fox we're going to stay with you. we're going to take a quick break though. we'll come back to you. stick around. we do want to hear what senator cassidy has to say. stay with us.

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>> i'm doctor sanjay gupta in atlanta, and this is cnn. >> relief. medication has been approved by the fda. it's the first new painkiller to be approved since the late 90s, and could bring relief to millions without the use of opioids. cnn chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta joins us now. sanjay, what's so unique about this new pain medication? well, the way. >> that it works is it blocks pain specifically without causing a lot of sedation or euphoria. that's the biggest thing. and as you mentioned, phil, i mean, it's really been since 1998 that we've had a new pain medication that's been approved. fda typically approves dozens of new medications every year, but it's been a long time on on pain medications. when you think about opioids, you just mentioned, the way that they typically work is is really in terms of impact on the brain. specifically, the brain is where all pain in the body is processed. this new medication,

called suzetrigine or journavx, acts. it basically changes the way that that pain signal is actually transmitted from the site of pain. so it doesn't it doesn't cause euphoria. it doesn't cause sedation. and hopefully it makes it less addictive as well. so a lot of excitement around this bill. >> yeah, it seems significant. do we have any sense of how big of an impact it could have? >> you know, pain is a is a is a big deal. you know, we don't talk about it enough in part because there haven't been new options, but about 20% of the population, frankly, 20% of the world population suffers with pain. a lot of it chronic pain. it's growing at a faster rate than than other diseases. >> we have to interrupt you because as we've been covering you beside me, much of it bill cassidy has just got to the senate floor. we want to take you now to the senate floor to listen. >> for our country. and i've been contacted by text, by phone, by email. and if i didn't respond to anyone, it was not to be rude. it's just i was getting hundreds of messages a day personally, and thousands

through the office. and i just physically could not. now, mr. president, believe it or not, of these hundreds of people calling me and contacting me, however, they did, many of them disagreed with each other. diametrically three dimensionally. they disagreed. but the unifying factor is that the all desire the best for our country, even though they differ from each other so much, and maybe that kind of frames my feelings about this nomination. for context, before entering politics, before ever thinking about running for political office, i practiced medicine for 30 years in a public hospital for the uninsured, caring for those who otherwise would not have been able to afford the access to the care that i provided. after seeing patients die from vaccine preventable diseases, i dedicated much of my time to

vaccine research and immunization programs. personally, witnessing the safety monitoring, and the effectiveness of immunization. put simply, vaccines save lives. this is the context that informed me when considering rfk as the nominee to be secretary of the department of health and human services. it was a decision i studied exhaustively. i took very seriously. and as i said i would, i spoke with mr. kennedy not once, but multiple times over the weekend, including this morning. we had in-depth conversations about the medical literature, about the science behind the safety of vaccines. he referred me to studies and to people. i reviewed them and spoke to those whom he mentioned i should speak to. now, the most notable opponents of mr. kennedy were pediatricians on the front

lines. of our children's health, who regularly have to combat misinformation, combating vaccine skepticism with correct information, correct information that comes from their education, their training and experience as physicians. they are aware of the falling vaccine rates and the inevitability of increasing hospitalizations and deaths of children from vaccine preventable diseases. they are aware that children are now contracting diseases that they would not have contracted if the child was vaccinated. now, i heard from others and passionate about the need to address chemicals in our food and a belief that we are victims of large, impersonal forces, maximizing profits while sacrificing our health. and there is evidence for that. although food safety is principally a usda concern, i strongly agree that this is an issue society must address.

other rfk supporters are concerned regarding environmental risk. they fear these risks are being ignored by authorities. mr. kennedy's history of environmental activism motivates their support. i pointed out that the environmental protection agency monitors this, not the department of health and human services, but they still feel that he can make a difference. so as i looked how to resolve this, i returned to where i began. would it be possible to have mr. kennedy collaborate in helping public health agencies re-earn the trust of the american people? now, regarding vaccines, mr. kennedy has been insistent that he just wants good science and to ensure safety. but on this topic, the science is good, the science is credible. vaccines save lives. they are safe. they do not cause autism. there are multiple studies that show this. they are a crucial part of our nation's public health response. but as someone who has discussed

immunizations with thousands of people, i do recognize that many mothers need reassurance that the vaccine their child is receiving is necessary, effective, and most of all, safe. while i'm aligned with mr. kennedy as regards ultraprocessed food, reforming nih and taking on chronic disease once more, it leaves vaccines. now, mr. kennedy and the administration reached out seeking to reassure me regarding their commitment to protecting the public health benefit of vaccination. to this end, mr. kennedy and the administration committed that he and i would have an unprecedentedly close, collaborative working relationship. if he is confirmed, we will meet or speak multiple times a month. this collaboration will allow us to work well together and therefore to be more effective. mr. kennedy has asked for my input into hiring decisions at hhs beyond senate confirmed positions, and this aspect of

the collaboration will allow us to represent all sides of those folks who are contacting me. over this past weekend. he is also committed that he had worked within current vaccine approval and safety monitoring systems, and not established parallel systems. if confirmed, he will maintain the centers for disease control and prevention's advisory committee on immunization practices recommendations without changes, cdc will not remove statements on their website. pointing out that vaccines do not cause autism. mr. kennedy and the administration also committed that this administration will not use the subversive techniques used under the biden administration, like sue and settle, to change policies enacted by congress without first going through congress. mr. kennedy and the administration committed to a strong role of congress. aside from he and i meeting regularly, he will come before the health

committee on a quarterly basis if requested. he committed that the health committee chair, whether it's me or someone else, may choose a representative on any board or commission formed to review vaccine safety. if he is confirmed, hhs will provide a 30 day notice to the health committee if the agency seeks to make changes to any of our federal vaccine safety monitoring programs and help committee will have the option to call a hearing to further review these commitments, and my expectation that we have a great working relationship to make america healthy again, is the basis of my support. he will be the secretary, but i believe he will also be a partner in working for this end. if mr. kennedy is confirmed, i will use my authority as chairman of the senate committee with oversight of hhs, to rebuff any attempt to remove the public's access to

life saving vaccines without ironclad causational scientific evidence that can be accepted and defended before the mainstream scientific scientific community and before congress. i will watch carefully for any effort to wrongfully so public fear about vaccines. between confusing references of coincidence and anecdote. but my support is built on assurances that this will not have to be a concern, and that he and i can work together to build an agenda to make america healthy again. we need a leader at hhs who will guide president trump's agenda to make america wealthy again. based on mr. kennedy's assurances on vaccines and his platform to positively influence americans health, it is my consideration that he will get this done. as i've said, it's

been a long, intense process, but i've assessed it as i would assess a patient as a physician, ultimately restoring trust in our public health institution is too important. and i think mr. kennedy can help get that done. as chairman of the senate committee with oversight authority of his position, i will do my best to make sure that that is what we accomplish. i want mr. knedy to succeed and. >> make. >> he has the opportunity to address the most pertinent issues affecting americans health. we also need to reform institutions like fda and nih, and those, as has already been indicated, are my priorities as chairman of the health committee. i look forward to his support in accomplishing this. if confirmed, i look forward to working together with mr.