meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
Brian Lehrer: A Daily Politics Podcast

Dem Senators Wyden of OR and Hasan of NH Grill RFK Jr. on Vaccines and Abortion Rights

Brian Lehrer: A Daily Politics Podcast

WNYC Studios

Public, 2020, Election, Brian, Journalism, News Commentary, Daily News, Radio, News, History, Wnyc, Lehrer, Daily, Politics

4.4663 Ratings

🗓️ 29 January 2025

⏱️ 29 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

With Trump's pick for Secretary of Health and Human Services, RFK Jr. appearing for his confirmation hearing today, we present special coverage of the proceedings.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

From WNYC Studios, I'm Brian Lerer. This is my daily politics podcast. It's Wednesday, January 29th.

0:15.0

Today we have a special edition of our show, listening in on the confirmation hearing for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be Secretary of

0:22.7

Health and Human Services. His confirmation is definitely not guaranteed, according to news organizations

0:28.7

doing Senate headcounts. HHS, so you have some background, has an annual budget of more than a

0:34.8

trillion dollars. It includes the National Institutes of Health,

0:38.7

the Centers for Disease Control, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Centers for Medicare

0:43.9

and Medicaid services. Front and center, obviously, will be Kennedy's decades-long campaign

0:50.0

against vaccines and the implications for children's health, which has been very much in the news,

0:55.2

but also their parents and grandparents' health, depending on if and how Kennedy changes things.

1:02.9

Kennedy compared the COVID vaccine mandate to Nazi Germany, even though, if I may say,

1:09.1

the mandate was intended to prevent mass death, while the

1:12.4

Holocaust was, of course, imposed to cause mass death. Interestingly, Kennedy has opposition

1:17.7

on the right, as well as the left. Mike Pence's current advocacy group is recommending

1:24.3

senators vote no because of Kennedy's support for abortion rights. There is

1:29.0

reporting, and I assume he'll be asked about this, that he's made a deal with Trump not to speak

1:34.2

about his position on abortion rights or push them in any way through HHS policy. We'll see

1:40.2

if he's asked about that. And the Rupert Murdoch newspapers, the Wall Street Journal in New York

1:45.8

Post, have also come out against confirmation. The Post, for example, says Kennedy is, quote,

1:52.0

still a radical left lunatic, which Trump once called him last year on Truth Social. The New York Post

1:59.3

says Kennedy led the campaign to shut down the Indian Point nuclear facility in New York,

2:05.2

thinking it could all be replaced by green energy.

2:08.6

Yet, hypocrite that he is, he opposed a wind farm off the coast of Cape Cod,

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from WNYC Studios, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of WNYC Studios and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.