mr. cassidy. mr. langford. mr. johnson. [roll call] >> the final tally is 514. >> with the clerk please restate the boat. >> fourteen -- 13. the nomination is reported favorably. we will turn to other senators who like to make a statement. i'll go to the republican side. >> thank you. i voted by today and i want to briefly explain why. i believe in my five years, mr. kennedy will be one of the first people coming before. he is the lens of an attorney and has brought many lawsuits on vaccine safety and of the things. i think senator warnock said the president said he would go wild the department of health and human services. i hope he does the hope he finds a way to reduce the cost healthcare. i hope he goes wild and instead of the discussion we've had for the ten years in the senate making medicaid work making people healthier, i hope he figures out how because of this quote is not much of the way, i hope he goes wild on safety so we can improve safety supply and goes wild on the healthcare supply chain and tries to make su

mr. cassidy. >> aye. >> mr. cassidy, aye. >> reporter: cassidy had grilled kennedy over his years of spreading misinformation about vaccines. the senator acknowledged he was struggling with the nomination. but ultimately cassidy, who is facing re-election next year, fully aware of the pressure he could face for voting no. now giving kennedy his full support. >> ultimately restoring trust in our public health institution is too important, and i think mr. kennedy can help get that done. >> reporter: a few hours later, former congresswoman tulsi gabbard, trump's pick for director of national intelligence, passing a party line vote in the senate intelligence committee, despite republican concerns over her meeting with former syrian dictator bashar al assad and her refusal to call edward snowden a traitor. gabbard and kennedy, two disruptors in a team of them. the leading figure, billionaire elon musk, who is out to reshape the government itself. his department of government efficiency staffed largely by young enginee

mr. cassidy. aye. mr. lankford. aye. mr. daines. aye. mr. barrasso, aye. mr. johnson, aye. mr. tillis, aye. ms. blackburn, aye mr. wyden, no. ms. cantwell, no. mr. bennet, no. mr. warner, no. mr. whitehouse, no. ms. hassan, no. ms. cortez masto, no. ms. warren, no. mr. sanders, no. ms. smith, no. mr. lujan, no. mr. warnock, no. mr. chairman? the chairman votes aye. the final tally is 14 ayes, 13 nays. chair crapo: with the click please restate the vo--with the clerk restate the vote? >> 14 ayes, 13 nays. chair crapo: the vote is reported favorably. since i asked my republican colleagues to hold off at the outset, i will go to my republican colleague first. senator tillis. sen. tillis: i voted aye today and i wanted to briefly explain why. i believe in my 65 years -- i will be 65 in august -- that mr. kennedy will be one of the first people coming before who is not a trained health care expert. he views this through the lens of an attorney. he's brought many lawsuits on food safety, vaccine safety, a number of other things. mr. chair, i think it was senator warnock that said tha

mr. cassidy: mr. president, i'd like to make a statement -- are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: yes. mr. cassidy: i ask that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cassidy: mr. president, i'd like to make a statement regarding my vote in committee to -- on behalf of robert f. kennedy to be secretary of hhs. first i think everyone who has contacted me over the last few days, almost all have been respectful and seek the best for our country. i have been contacted by text, phone, and e-mail. if i didn't respond to anyone, it's 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. mr. president, believe it or hot, of these hundreds of people calling or kakting me -- contacting me, many of them disagree with each other three dimensionally, they disagreed. the unifying factor is they all sdooir the best for -- desire the best for our country even though they differ from each other so much, and maybe that kind of frames my feelings about t

mr.. cassidy, mr.. cassidy i mr.. langford i mr.. langford i mr.. daines mr.. daines i. mr.. young. mr.. young. i mr.. barrasso mr.. barrasso i mr.. johnson mr.. johnson i mr.. tillis mr.. tillis i mrs.. blackburn. mrs.. blackburn i mr.. marshall. mr.. marshall i mr.. wyden. no. mr.. wyden. no. miss cantwell. no. miss cantwell. no. mr.. bennett. mr.. bennett. no. mr.. warner. mr.. warner. no. mr.. white house. mr.. white house. no. miss hassan. miss. hassan. no. miss cortez masto. miss cortez masto. no. miss warren. no. miss warren. no. mr. sanders. no. mr.. sanders. no. miss smith. no. miss smith. no. mr.. lujan. no. mr.. lujan. no. mr.. warnock. >> no. >> mr.. warnock. no. mr.. welch. mr. welch. no. mr. chairman. chairman. votes aye. mr. chairman, the final tally is 14 ayes. 13 ayes. >> the vote was. would the clerk please restate the vote? >> mr. chairman the was 14. ayes. 13. ayes. >> the. the vote was 1413. the nomination is reported favorably. we will now turn to other senators who would like to make a statement. since i asked my republican colleagues to hold off at the outset, i'l

mr cassidy is a doctor and rfk has, you know, made these persistent, misleading comments about childhoodthere. senate majority leaderjohn now, it might get voted down on the floor. get through. in charge of a budget of $1.7 trillion. so worried about so many different aspects of recommendations. health campaigns. they also have concerns about his financial ties. elizabeth warren. what happens when he leaves the post. not convinced by him. i should mention there are a few wild cards. potentially, if it does go well, it will go to the floor. yes to him, i doubt it. as i said before, because its advanced now to the floor, across the line. local media is reporting several fatalities, but this in the city of 0rebro. they are urging people to stay away from the area. officers say the suspected perpetrator is a man, police have also not confirmed if anyone was killed, let's start with the latest are hearing about casualty are hearing about'casualty f are hearing about'r -l ~ numbers. i am monitoring swedish — numbers. i am monitoring swedish - and - numbers. i am monitoring swedish - and at - n

mr. cassidy mr. cassidy i mr. >> lankford mr.kford i mr. >> daines mr. >> daines i mr. >> young mr. >> young i mr. >> barrasso mr. >> barrasso i mr. >> johnson mr. >> johnson i mr. >> tillis mr. tillis i mrs. blackburn mrs. >> blackburn i mr. marshall mr. >> marshall i mr. >> wyden. no. mr. wyden. no. >> miss cantwell, no. >> miss cantwell, no. mr. bennet, mr. bennet, no. mr. warner, no. mr. warner, no. mr. whitehouse, mr. whitehouse, no. miss hassan, miss. hassan, no. >> miss cortez masto. >> miss cortez masto. >> no. >> miss warren, no. >> miss warren, no. >> mr. sanders, mr. sanders, no. >> miss smith, no. >> miss smith, no. >> mr. lujan, no. mr. lujan, no. >> mr. warnock, no. >> mr. warnock, no. >> mr. welch, mr. >> welch, no. >> mr. chairman, >> chairman. votes i. >> mr. chairman the final tally. >> is 14 ayes. >> 13 ayes. >> the vote. >> was. would the clerk please restate the vote. >> mr. chairman. >> the final tally was 14 ayes. >> 13 ayes. >> the vote was 1413. the nomination is reported favorably. we will now turn to ot

mr. cassidy: mr.ote in committee to -- on behalf of robert f. kennedy to be secretary of hhs. first i think everyone who has contacted me over the last few days, almost all have been respectful and seek the best for our country. i have been contacted by text, phone, and e-mail. if i didn't respond to anyone, it's 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. mr. president, believe it or hot, of these hundreds of people calling or kakting me -- contacting me, many of them disagree with each other three dimensionally, they disagreed. the unifying factor is they all sdooir the best for -- 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 even thinking about running for political office, i practiced medicine for 30 years in a public hospital for the uninsured, caring fo

mr. cassidy. ms. collins. mr. coons. mr. cornyn. ms. cortez masto. mr. cotton. mr. cramer. mr. crapo. mr. cruz. mr. curtis. the clerk: mr. daines. thank you, i had the opportunity to meet with almost all of you and i greatly appreciate that pretty i'm grateful to president trump when it is committee for your consideration to be the any seventh attorney general of the united states. i would not be here without my family. in big bear with me, for just a moment, a lot of made a very long trip and around the mall down so i don't forget anyone predict my beautiful mother, retired kindergarten teacher would not be here without my month rest of the week ago it was 12 years since we lost my dad to leukemia for like 12 days. my amazing husband john, it is to incredible girls, colin infinitely pretty colin is a senior university of florida next month i think all of you in this committee will be very happy to know the family is in cybersecurity. there's a third who's traveling abroad and we shouldn't be here in my amazing father-in-law, david and my sister, beth my brother-in-law home with my kn

mr. cassidy. ms. collins. mr. coons. mr. cornyn. ms. cortez masto. mr. cotton. mr. cramer. mr. crapo.mr. cruz. mr. curtis. mr. daines. ms. duckworth. mr. durbin. ms. ernst. mr. fetterman. mrs. fischer. mr. gallego. mrs. gillibrand. mr. graham. mr. grassley. mr. hagerty. ms. hassan. mr. hawley. mr. heinrich. mr. hickenlooper. ms. hirono. mr. hoeven. mr. husted. mrs. hyde-smith. mr. johnson. mr. justice. mr. kaine. mr. kelly. mr. kennedy. mr. kim. mr. king. ms. klobuchar. mr. lankford. mr. lee. mr. lujan. ms. lummis. mr. markey. mr. marshall. mr. mcconnell. mr. mccormick. mr. merkley. mrs. moody. mr. moran. mr. moreno. mr. mullin. ms. murkowski. mr. murphy. mrs. murray. mr. ossoff. mr. padilla. mr. paul. mr. peters. mr. reed. mr. ricketts. mr. risch. ms. rosen. mr. rounds. mr. sanders. mr. schatz. mr. schiff. mr. schmitt. mr. schumer. plan is to help the wealthy get wealthier tax giveaways families paying the bill. how massive giveaways going to be paid for? slashing services to families and families try to get on their feet so they can thrive and get to the middle-class. great betrayal

cassidy: i accept that. mr. lorraine: in terms of the churn, you are moving within an enormous system. it is not just leaving the system, it is leaving the facility you are in. sen. cassidy: they may go from des moines to new orleans? mr. lorraine: four within the facility, moving to another area. sen. cassidy: theoretically you have systems that would minute that? -- limit that? mr. lorraine: but you lose your continuity to churn. sen. cassidy: ok. no, i think you all for your testimony. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you for your service to our country, whether by direct service or a family member. testimony -- failing our veterans. personally my experience is when i first got back from the war i tried to go right to my v.a. and ask for services for ptsd, was rejected because my paperwork had not caught up, then continue to get help, as well as many of my other guys, and actually avoided therapy for almost 12 years after that. and luckily was now in and have been. but a lot of us missed some opportunities, i

mr. kennedy: whether patients? traditional medicare? >> senator cassidy: yes. >> mr. kennedy: 30 million americans on medicare, on traditional medicare and other 34 are -- 34 are on medicare advantage. roughly half and half. i think more people would rather be on medicare advantage because it offers very good services. people can't afford and it is much more expensive. to answer your first question, there are all kinds of exciting things that we could be doing including cooperatives that president trump supported and house saving accounts which president trump supported. all of these things to make people accountable to their own health. >> senator cassidy: it would bring the house saving into medicare and medicaid? >> mr. kennedy: exactly. the use of those to primary care to continue to transition into a value-based program that is private americans - americans don't by and large do not like affordable care act. they don't like medicaid, they like medicare. they like private insurance. we need to listen to what - they would prefer to be on private insurance. most ame

mr. kennedy: whether patients...? sen. cassidy: who are on medicare. mr. kennedy: that is their choice right now. i think 32 million americans or 30 million americans on medicare, untraditional medicare and then another 34 or 34 on medicare advantage, roughly half-and-half, i think more people would rather be on medicare advantage because it offers very good services. but people can't afford it. it is much more expensive. and to answer your first question, there are all kinds of exciting things that we can be doing including cooperatives which president trump has supported, including savings accounts which president trump has supported. all of these things to make people more accountable for their own health. sen. cassidy: so bring the cooperatives in a health savings account into medicare and medicaid? mr. kennedy: exactly. we try to increase those, the use of those and to direct primary care to continue to transition into a value-based program that is private. most americans that they could afford to be americans from cyber criminals. something we need t

mr. kennedy's priority was about his view of vaccines. it was not about making health care more affordable and accessible. in response to a very direct and easy open-ended question from senator cassidykennedy showed a willful ignorance. >> in less than an hour. the senate intelligence committee votes on the nomination of tulsi gabbard to serve as director of national intelligence. are nomination likely gets out of committee thanks to supportive indiana republican todd young. next in the queue, a vote to confirm pam bondi as attorney general. >> pam bondi has promised to get the department back to its core mission: prosecuting crime, protecting americans their safety and freedoms. i look forward to confirming her later today. >> the senate voted to confirm doug collins as va secretary today 77-23. there have been bipartisan votes for 9 of the ten nominees confirmed by the senate so far. >> chad, thank you. >> they may try to play dictator in washington, d.c., but he doesn't get to shut down the agency for international development. >> in the last ten days, donald trump has done more to destabilize things across the planet. we don't have a fourth branch of government called elon musk.

mr. kennedy: whether patients -- sen. cassidy: who are on fee-for-service -- mr.kennedy: traditional medicare? that's the choice right now. i think 32 million americans or 30 million americans on medicare , traditional medicare, and then another 34, 30, 34 on medicare advantage, roughly half and half. i think more people would rather be on medicare advantage? it offers very good services. but people cannot afford it. it's much more expensive. to answer your first question, there, there are all kinds of exciting things we could be doing, including cooperatives, which trump has supported, including health savings accounts which president trump has supported. all these things to make people accountable for their health. sen. cassidy: it would bring the cooperatives and health savings accounts into medicare and medicaid? mr. kennedy: exactly. we try to increase those, the use of those and direct primary care to continue to transition to a value-based program that is private. americans don't -- by and large do not like the affordable care act. pimple on it. they don't

cassidy: to this end, mr., and the administration committed that he and i would have an unprecedentedly close collaborative working relationship if he has 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. geoff: that raises the question. if securing confirmation demands, is rfk junior truly the right choice to begin with? sen. johnson: first of all, i don't think those are particularly major concessions on the part of rfk junior. he wants to follow the science. he is not and i've asked -- anti-vax. we want to make sure the vaccines that are on a childhood schedule are as safe as possible, recognizing that nothing is 100% safe, and that they are effective. certainly we want to prevent childhood disease to the extent we can. we also have to have an open mind. the reality is, there are vaccinations. they acknowledge that fact when they passed the childhood vaccine safety act in 1986. vaccine injuries are just unavoi

cassidy worked as a doctor before entering politics. he talked about the importance of vaccines and public health. his remarks are about 10 minutes >> mr. president, i would like to make a statement regarding my voting committee on behalf of robert f kennedy secretary of hhs. first, i think everyone who has contacted me over the last few days. almost all have been respectful and want the best for our country. i've been contacted by text message, phone and e-mail. s jusi was getting hundreds of messages a day personally and thousands through the office and i just physically could not. mr. president, believe it or hot, of these hundreds of people calling or kakting me -- contacting me, many of them disagree with each other three dimensionally, they disagreed. the unifying factor is they all sdooir the best for -- 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 even thinking about running for political office, i practiced medicine for 30 years in a public hospital for the uninsured, caring for tho

now, my last comment is they've i've heard also senator cassidy today made some very reassuring comments. but things that mr most of the problem. so is i'm cautiously on the mystic that we can focus on positive thins rather than on the things we disagree. liz: yeah. just for people when don't know, senator kennedy of louisiana is a medical doctor. he is a physician, and he said he, with the caveat, would advance the vote. because he said rfk jr. promised he would protect existing vaccine programs. but what about future vaccine programs in and right now you guys at pfizer are developing a human bird flu if vaccine as i understand it. we have more than 60 cases of bird flu transferred the to humans, one confirmed death. finish doesn't that worry you if that's going to be in question? >> look, one of the things that president trump is most proud of is the development of the covid vaccine. it happened during the operation warp speed -- liz: yeah, his plan. >> he was president, and he is very vocal about it, but he's really proud if about it. i think that the last thing the trump administration or the american p

you know, mister cassidy, senator cassidy, my colleague, said, you know, he got assurances from kennedy when it came to vaccines. what i heard when i talked directly to mr. kennedy, one on one in my office is he looked me in the eye and told me that he will in his first 30 to 90 days, bring every single vaccine in this country under review, under scrutiny, and that every single one of them was on the table, is what he told me. that's not the kind of hhs secretary i want to see. >> and that's i mean, it's the cause of his life for the last 20 years, that has been his cause to stop vaccines and to sow doubt about their use and to i mean, he just the things he says are just not true. he lies all the time about vaccines. >> and he was given opportunities to retract some of those statements there in the hearings that we had. you know, for instance, again, my mother is a lyme disease survivor. a lot of people in my home state of new jersey afflicted with that. when he says that, it's very likely that it was a biological weapon that was created by the military, that lyme disease is a biological weapon, you know, that kind of talk when he is somebody who has al

cassidy decided to go ahead and. give him his support. >> so, congressman, here's what senator, democratic senator maria cantwell said ahead of the vote. i wanted to vote for mr. kennedy in the context of my family's history. my dad stood behind his father the night his father gave the famous speech. i told him in my office, in my family, the kennedys stood up. but when he answered senator cassidy's question and he couldn't even give him the answer, that yes, the data is there to support vaccines today. i don't need any more data. all of a sudden, i saw this world that we got affected by in seattle not being stood up for. so, congressman, is there anything that you see that could stand in the way of full senate confirmation here? >> well, i think. >> he's still. >> likely to lose. some republican votes. so we know that senator mcconnell has continued to express skepticism. and of course, we all know his history with polio and his. >> passionate. >> you know, belief and support for vaccines. so i think kennedy may lose 1 or 2 votes, maybe three, the same three that. hegseth lost. but i think at this point, it does look like he is going to have enough votes to.

cassidy ultimately stuck with republicans and said he got assurances from rfk jr.. >> now. >> mr.dy. >> 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. these commitments, and my expectation that we can have a great working relationship to make america wealthy again, is the basis of my support. >> and my sauce tonight is doctor richard besser, the former acting cdc director under president obama. what did you make of what we heard from senator cassidy here, given what a critical vote he was, and also how skeptical he seemed of rfk jr. in his hearing. >> you know, i have to say, i. >> was extremely disappointed. i had my heart set on him for a lot of reasons. he's a doctor. and as a doctor, one of the things that you pledge is to do no harm. and, you know, as i. look across this administration and the

mr. kennedy and the administration committed that he and i would have an unprecedentedly close, collaborative working relationship if he is confirmed. >> kennedy won key support from senator cassidy, who was a doctor, after kennedy assured cassidy that he will not undermine child vaccination programs. tulsi gabbard's nomination to be the director of national intelligence also cleared a key senate committee in a closed door, 9 to 8 vote. this, despite concerns raised about her past comments sympathetic to russia and a meeting with syria's now deposed leader. a former democratic congresswoman, gabbard is one of trump's most divisive nominees, with lawmakers on both parties here also pointing to her past support for government leaker edward snowden. her nomination now heads to the full senate for consideration, although a vote has not yet been scheduled. president trump praised elon musk today, saying musk was doing a great job slashing government spending and moving to shut down agencies such as the u.s. agency for international development. but critics say musk and the president do not have the constitutional authority to cut spending. ktvu jana katsuyama spoke with a legal expert

mr. kennedy in the context of my family's history. my dad stood behind his father the night his father gave the famous speech. in my families the kennedys stood up. but when he answered senator cassidy's question and he couldn't even give him the answer that yes, the data is there to support vaccines today, i don't need anymore data, all of a sudden i saw this world that we got affected by in seattle not being stood up for. i need someone at hhs who is going to say we're going to be a leader in medical technology, science, vaccines, we're going to fight foreign powers and be there to provide global health and i don't want a -- i am voting no. >> senator warnock will now speak following senator warnock we'll proceed to the vote and anyone else who wants to make remarks will be allowed to make remarks. senator warnock. >> thank you so very much, mr. chairman. at a rally a few months ago, donald trump said that he was going to allow mr. robert kennedy to, quote, go wild on health. go wild. of all the things that i can think of that i would like to see a secretary of health human services do, go wild is not on the list. mr. robert kennedy is manifestly unqualified for the job he seeks. in

mr. kennedy during about kennedy's anti-vaccine rhetoric and history of just to sort of summarize some of what senator kennedy just said, peddling in some conspiracy theories from senator, senator cassidy's point of view. now, just to recap, what happened this morning is that the senate finance committee voted to advance kennedy's nomination. he won by just one vote, which is why senator cassidy. doctor cassidy was so critical. i want to go to cnn's manu raju, who was outside. that hearing has been working his sources on this. we're going to talk about some of the sort of the medical points that he made, which are all very, very interesting. but what i want to ask you about were the promises that we all just heard. senator cassidy say that he got from rfk jr. about touching base with congress, not replacing people in these key government agencies without checking with with cassidy and others. first, among many other promises. it's definitely not the same kind of check and balance that we have seen even remotely in the past two weeks. so maybe we should be skeptical, but it is certainly someone like you and me and all of us to make sure to bookmark everything that senator cassidy just sai

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