Nevada senator grills Kennedy during hearing, questions his independence

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump's choice to be Secretary of Health and Human Services, appears before the Senate Finance Committee for his confirmation hearing, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025. Photo by Ben Curtis / AP

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he didn’t know if women in some states would be entitled to emergency care for an incomplete miscarriage under a law that guarantees services regardless of the ability to pay.

Kennedy’s statement today came under questioning by U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., during his confirmation hearing for secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.

Cortez Masto asked Kennedy how he would approach certain issues related to abortion. She referenced the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, which is meant to guarantee public access to emergency services regardless of an individual’s ability to pay.

Kennedy agreed a woman experiencing a heart attack should be protected by the nearly 40-year-old legislation, but he couldn’t answer whether the law would apply to an incomplete miscarriage in a state where abortion is banned.

“I don’t know,” Kennedy said. “I mean, the answer to that is, I don’t know.”

Cortez Masto said it was important that President Donald Trump’s nominee understand the impact of the law. “And don’t play politics with the patient presenting at the ER based on a position that this administration has taken,” she said.

In a nearly 10-minute exchange, Cortez Masto referenced a private meeting with Kennedy and said he seemed sincere about wanting to lower drug prices.

But she noted Trump’s executive order pausing spending under the Inflation Reduction Act and Republicans’ interest in repealing it. The act caps out-of-pocket drug costs for seniors and caps the cost of insulin at $35 a month.

“So my question to you is, what do you do? Why are you there?” Cortez Masto said.

She asked if he would “cave” to administration positions if they were counter to his goal of lowering drug prices or could harm Americans.

Cortez Masto further pressed Kennedy about his independence.

“You keep citing the Trump administration and you’re just going to follow what they say,” Cortez Masto said to Kennedy. “Is that what you’re doing? You’re just a rubber stamp for them in this position.”

Before today’s hearing, Nicole Shanahan, Kennedy’s running mate in his abandoned independent bid for president, warned Cortez Masto and other senators not to stand in the way of his confirmation.

“While Bobby may be willing to play nice, I won’t,” Shanahan, the former wife of Google co-founder Sergey Brin, said in a social media post.

“If you vote against him, I will personally fund challengers to primary you in your next election and I will enlist hundreds of thousands to join me,” she said.

Nevada’s other U.S. senator, Democrat Jacky Rosen, also questioned Kennedy’s qualifications.

“In addition to his dangerous anti-vaccine views, RFK Jr.’s inability to commit to not take money from the industry he would be regulating as Secretary of Health and Human Services is disqualifying,” Rosen said in a statement.

Kennedy’s confirmation hearings continue Thursday before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.