As it turns out, lawmakers and federal workers aren’t a fan of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s leadership at the Department of Health and Human Services. Not only does the HHS secretary have a line of people calling for him to resign, including his own staffers, but he is also now facing impeachment as well.
On Wednesday, Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens of Michigan filed articles of impeachment against the brain-wormed politician, saying he has undermined public health. And that’s hard to argue against. He has promoted fringe views from falsely saying Tylenol causes autism to ripping a health monitoring program away from coal miners.
That said, it’s very unlikely the impeachment succeeds. Congress has a Republican majority in both chambers, making the likelihood of this coming to a vote on the House floor very slim.
As noted by The New York Times, Stevens’ actions may be more about getting some fire under her run for Senate as next year’s primary approaches. She faces state Sen. Mallory McMorrow and progressive activist Abdul El-Sayed.
However, another politician also thinks enough is enough with Kennedy.
Independent Sen. Angus King of Maine, who caucuses with Democrats, scheduled a vote that would allow lawmakers to signal their concerns over Kennedy’s malfeasance thus far. In theory, this could open the door for both sides of the aisle to openly discuss the havoc Kennedy has wreaked on HHS.
But it’s hard to say whether Republican lawmakers will take that opportunity.
For example, Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, a medical doctor who somewhat reluctantly voted for Kennedy’s confirmation, has recently turned down opportunities to criticize the health secretary. That’s the case even after Kennedy reneged on pledges he made to Cassidy about not messing too much with vaccine policy.
Kennedy, who has a long history of pushing anti-vaccine lies, has fired scientists from a top vaccine advisory committee, ousted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director, and removed vaccine mandates for young children and pregnant women, among other things.
But, hey, at least the man can do pull-ups.
