Ben & Jerry co-founders were forced to remove from Senate hearing
Capitol police were instructed to physically remove protesters from Senate hearings, including Ben & Jerry’s Ben Cohen.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s latest appearance on Capitol Hill was marked from the regular drama by a well-known protester who was kicked out of the committee room, and senior lawmakers who were shedding tears from camera glare.
The newly created Secretary of Health and Human Services faced two parliamentary committees on May 14th. He testified before the House Approximate Committee and the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
Democrat Rosa Delauro, a ranking member of the House Approximately Publishers, burned Kennedy on the dramatic cuts in research programs at institutions, including the National Institutes of Health. However, after the room was empty, she shared some of her personal history with a few reporters.
“I’m a survivor of ovarian cancer. I’ve been in 38 years now,” said Delauro, a visibly emotional. “I am here for God’s grace and biomedical research.”
Investing in research may not make a difference anytime soon, but it’s five to ten years when a country sees the difference – that’s what she’s worried about, she said.
During the hearing, lawmakers urged Kennedy to resist explicitly advise parents to vaccinate their children when the country is facing an outbreak of measles. As someone with a long history of controversial views about vaccines, Kennedy left his comfort zone in April and said the MMR vaccine was “the most effective way to prevent the spread of measles.”
However, he stopped recommending it to his parents.
Wednesday’s meeting will provide lawmakers with the opportunity to ask Kennedy directly, with Wisconsin Democrat Mark Pokan asking Kennedy:
“Perhaps because of measles,” Kennedy said. “What I say is that my opinion on vaccines is irrelevant.”
Pushing further, Kennedy said:
He was also praised equally by Republican lawmakers who praised Kennedy for his efforts to phase out artificial dyes from US food supplies.
Healthcare policy consultant William Arnone sat in the front row at the Senate committee meeting. A decades-long advisor to Democratic politicians, Arnone has advised everyone from Kennedy’s late father and well-known Democrat Robert F. Kennedy to former Secretary of State and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton when he was a US Senator in New York.
Arnone said it was time for change.
“I was a traditional advocate for a program with democratic roots,” he said. “But it’s time to reassess everything and focus on the goal: prevention rather than treatment.”
Within minutes of Kennedy’s testimony, five members of the audience rose from their seats and began charging towards Kennedy.
Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben & Jerry, was one of the protesters who were taken from the room by Capitol police. Ice cream companies are known for supporting liberal causes and candidates.
“I told Congress that they were buying bombs and killing poor kids in Gaza. They’re paying for it by kicking poor kids from Medicaid in the US. This was the response of the authorities,” he wrote to X.
Others like Jeffrey Rose cheered him on by saying that Kennedy would make America’s healthy moves again.
Rose, wearing a Green Maha hat, said she first crossed the road with former environmental lawyer Kennedy over 30 years ago.
“Now we have the first time we’re working at the Maha level,” Rose said. “How great is it? How great is it?”
Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy is a White House correspondent for USA Today. x You can follow her at @swapnavenugopal
