Democrats Confront RFK Jr.

America Dissected

Incision Media LLC

Politics, News, Society & Culture

4.6 • 4.4K Ratings

🗓️ 15 May 2025

⏱️ 81 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Katelyn and Abdul break down the latest news in public health and policy, including: RFK’s appearance at the House Appropriations Committee and the Senate Health Committee The House budget proposal to cut Medicaid Donald Trump’s Executive Order to bring down drug prices Trump’s nominee for Surgeon General Then Abdul interviews former FDA Commissioner Dr. David Kessler about his new book Diet, Drugs and Dopamine. Check out our shop at store.americadissected.com for our new America Dissected merch – including logo shirts, hoodies and mugs. And don’t miss our “Vaccines Matter. Science Works.” t-shirts! This show would not be possible without the generous support of our sponsors. America Dissected invites you to check them out. This episode was brought to you by: de Beaumont Foundation: For 25 years, the de Beaumont Foundation has worked to create practical solutions that improve the health of communities across the country. To learn more, visit debeaumont.org. Lumen: Go to lumen.me/AD to get 15% off your Lumen. Our Big Shot: Search for and subscribe to “Our Big Shot: Wiping Out Disease” on Apple Podcasts, or your favorite podcast app.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey everyone, Caitlin here. Abdul and I recorded the show on Tuesday, and you're going to hear that
0:05.8	conversation in a moment. But there was a lot of news that broke out yesterday after we recorded.
0:13.2	So I just wanted to pop in here and tell you what happened. As scheduled, RFK Jr. appeared before
0:20.2	two committees, the House Appropriations Committee, as well as Senate's Health Committee, to answer questions about how he has been handling health and human services, as well as the proposed cuts that are coming down the pipeline around Medicaid, SNAP, CDC, and all of that.
0:40.0	This is the first time Kennedy has been confronted directly by Congress since he was officially
0:47.1	appointed, and it's really been the first time he's been forced to defend his actions.
0:52.4	And so I watched an incredible anticipation. So here's a quick
0:57.4	recap of what happened. In both the House and the Senate, this is the way it works. Each member of
1:02.8	the committee gets about five minutes to ask Kennedy questions and hears his answers. When time
1:09.6	expires, it moves on to the next person.
1:12.1	So this is really rapid fire.
1:14.2	These congressmen try to pack a lot in these five minutes as much as they can.
1:20.2	Kennedy opened up the stage first.
1:22.2	He's a lawyer.
1:23.5	So he's very good at making talking points and winning an argument, I'll be frank.
1:28.1	He opened about making food safer, healthy life choices, chronic disease.
1:34.2	He even mentioned social determinants of health that I was really excited to hear.
1:38.4	He called about the need for compassion and the need to figure out this mess with health care spending.
1:46.4	And all of these sound great, right?
1:48.7	They're smart.
1:49.3	There's something I can get behind.
1:50.8	It's politically hard to oppose those.
	...

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