Republican senators are growing impatient with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and vowing to use a high-profile hearing Thursday to crank up oversight following last week's ouster of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Susan Monarez....They won't do a goddamn thing, of course -- but their expressions of concern, even if it's Susan Collins-style performative concern, is a surprise.
"I need to know why ... his words in his confirmation hearing aren't matching up with some of the deeds," said Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), a member of the Senate Finance Committee, where Kennedy will testify about the administration's health agenda.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) told Semafor that Kennedy will face "hard questions," noting the Senate went through the work of confirming Monarez only to have her removed from office after just a month.
"I want the chaos to stop," said Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.). "You can't have the institution of public health in turmoil."
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), another panel member, said "of course" when asked if he has questions about Monarez's firing.
It's also a surprise that the very right-wing opinion section of Rupert Murdoch's Wall Street Journal has published an op-ed by Monarez, who was removed as head of the CDC because she clashed with Kennedy on vaccines.
I could point out that Murdoch believes in vaccines, including the COVID vaccine -- in fact, he was one of the earliest recipients of the vaccine in the U.K., a country where he's never been a citizen. Murdoch got jabbed in mid-December 2020, nearly a month before 94-year-old Queen Elizabeth received her first dose of the vaccine, in early January 2021.
But Republicans not named Murdoch are expressing concerns about Kennedy's actions. I think I know why.
One of the problems with being a pro-science liberal at a time of right-wing anti-science mania is that it requires us to root for big drug companies. These firms produce important treatments and powerful vaccines. We need them, even though they gouge us to preserve their profit margins.
Republican politicians have no such qualms. They're unashamedly pro-plutocrat.
I think what's happening is that Kennedy's threat to Big Pharma is now obvious, and some Republicans are speaking up on behalf of their big donors. Democrats get somewhat more money than Republicans from pharmaceutical and health products interests, but in 2024, nine of the top twenty Senate recipients of cash from this sector were Republicans. In the House, it was ten out of twenty, including the top recipient, Brett Guthrie of Kentucky.
I'm sorry that our political system is so money-saturated that members of our dominant political party will speak up for public health only when the leopards are threatening to eat big donors' faces. But I think that's where we are.
I assume Senate Republicans hope Kennedy will be reasonable and back away from a total war on vaccines. That way they can continue to support him and ease their donors' concerns about the vaccine revenue stream. But Kennedy is a lunatic and a zealot. I don't think he'll back down. And, of course, the war is moving to the states, where Florida's sociopathic governor, Ron DeSantis, and quack surgeon general, Joseph Ladapo, have announced plans to end all vaccine mandates in the state. I expect that other grandstanding, extremist Republican state governments will follow suit. (Texas? Oklahoma? Missouri?)
Republicans let this happen. Americans might need to see a wave of infectious disease outbreaks before there's enough outrage to reverse this trend.
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