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May 16, 2025 - Info Warrior - Jason Bermas
52:48
Have We Gone Full Hunger Games At The RFK Hearings?
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Time Text
We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in.
Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want.
We think too much and feel too little.
More than machinery, we need humanity.
We know the air is unfit to breathe and our food is unfit to eat, as if that's the way it's supposed to be.
We know things are bad, worse than bad.
They're crazy.
Silence!
The great and powerful Oz knows why you have come.
You've got to say, "I'm a human being!" God damn it!
My life has value!
You have meddled with the primal forces of nature!
Don't give yourselves to brutes, men who despise you, enslave you, who regiment your lives, tell you what to do, what to think, or what to feel, who drill you, diet you, treat you like cattle, use you as cannon fodder.
Don't give yourselves to these unnatural men, machine men with machine minds and machine hearts.
Yeah, thank you.
You're beautiful.
I love you.
Yes.
You're beautiful.
Thank you.
Ha-ha.
It's showtime.
It's time to buckle up for making sense of the madness.
And who loves you?
And who do you love?
Everybody, Jason Bermas here, and we are going to take a look at just some, some of the interactions, encounters, exchanges between RFK Jr. and the Democratic Party.
and we're going to lead it with a woman that literally as soon As soon as I saw her outfit, it invoked the vision of the Hunger Games.
Now, a lot of you know what I'm talking about.
It's that politician that for some reason wants to bring the bravado via a novel turned into a rather well-done movie series.
Pointing out authoritarian rule and classism.
And if you get down and dirty with the Hunger Games, originally that idea, that genesis from the author, was during the Iraq War and the early stages of the War of Terror.
And this woman, and I guarantee it, Guaranteed that she was also looking at 9-11.
I'm not sure if she's ever really publicly spoke about that.
But she wrote this incredible series that's turned into an incredible film series.
And the thing that I think is really important is that it was directed at really not my generation at the time.
I would say tail end of Generation X, which I'm at the tail end of anyway, but more of what we will call millennials.
And it's really that generation, at least the tail end of it, that we're questioning anything before it went full on just...
I don't even like using the word.
I don't want to use the W word.
I'm not using the W word.
What I will say is...
This woman, I wish she was the exception, not the rule.
And it's not like all of these people dress in this way.
But again, I would say this.
On the Republican side, it's much, much less.
And when Marjorie Taylor Greene wears a Cruella DeVille outfit at a State of the Union, I call it out.
I don't love it.
And at least recently, I don't know if I've seen any of that.
On a lot of issues, I like Marjorie Taylor Greene because she remains anti-war.
I may have a problem with a ton of other stuff, but the anti-war stuff?
I'm big on that.
And that brings me to RFK Jr.
We already did the video on Gaza, the interruption in the beginning.
So now we're going to show just how unhinged these people are.
And in my opinion, and we could have done this, we could have done a watch along with the entire hearing.
I'm going to be really honest with you.
I continually hear the same talking points.
We talked about the cutting of Medicaid, for instance.
We could have played a bunch of clips on the cutting of Medicaid.
Continually, they say that they've put out this budget.
And appropriated it.
And you're not spending money on things that we said you should spend money on.
Now, I'll say this.
I'm all about the budget cuts.
All about those budget cuts.
In fact, you're going to hear me preach during this.
I hope that happens.
I don't know that it is.
I can tell you right now that at least the conversation is on the table and the rhetoric That has been spewed for decades.
Again, regarding fluoride, for instance.
We did that video.
We showed you that exchange, a little piece of it.
And RFK Jr. actually nailing it there, too.
Right?
We're not going to focus on fluoride.
They bring up the V-word.
I'm not going to talk about the V-word.
I'm going to let you decide.
But I haven't seen any substance by these people.
For instance, They talk about tobacco and cancer research.
Now when you just dig a little deeper on the tobacco front, we're talking about the money we're giving for national ad campaigns against cigarettes to teenagers.
First of all, tobacco in general, you know, look at the byproducts in there if you really want to look at the cancerous substances.
Let's start there.
But especially with the youth today, The vast majority are uninterested in smoking a cigarette.
However, they can't wait to have rainbow gumdrop vape sauce in them.
Right?
I mean, that's tobacco-less.
So, there's a movement.
We're going to play these clips.
We're also going to let...
You decide.
Get in the comments and exchanges.
I don't know that I'm going to get to the comments at the end of this because this is going to be a rather large watch-along even with only five of these people.
Folks, I'm encouraging everybody to watch the whole thing.
We might come back with a follow-up video.
I don't know.
I can tell you this.
I need you to thumbs it up, subscribe, share, please.
Consider supporting the broadcast.
$5, $10, $15.
It means the world to me.
I want to thank Stephanie, Karuster, and many others that have been supporting the broadcast.
We lost, yet again, more followers since yesterday on X. I'm going to have to do a whole thing on how fraudulent X engagement is and the whole AI thing.
We'll have to do it on a weekend when I can really dig deep and we can talk for maybe a couple hours.
Trump administration.
Live!
RFK Jr. is getting a grilling on Capitol Hill.
Trump visits Qatar during Mideast trip.
So, you know, again, the narrative is that he's getting a grilling.
You know, now Congress gets their say since they're getting rid of the alphabet soup of agencies.
Look, I'm not even saying that all these cuts aren't going to be replaced with something that could be worse via AI.
That's a debate and a conversation that I'm going to be having, actually, if you're watching this live on YouTube, in about, what, I think it's 6 p.m. my time, so in about less than 90 minutes.
That's going on with myself, James Corbett, Whitney Webb, The Last American Vagabond.
You want to watch it live?
You can find that.
I'm going to be reposting it.
And if you're watching this on Patriot.TV, you can bet your bippy it's going to be at least a couple episodes of that forum on AI.
A great debate to have.
But in my opinion, what RFK Jr. has done is he's at least moved the conversation into reality and he has shattered, shattered the illusion.
Of these politicians.
So let's kick it off with Hunger Games, Rosa DeLauro.
And look, this outfit she's got on is pretty wacky, right?
And with the glasses, I've seen wackier and I've seen wackier glasses on this woman.
You can look her up yourself.
Number of Mr. DeLauro.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
Let me address one area of correction which has to do with the measles issue, Mr. Secretary.
You keep comparing the U.S. to other countries.
If you compare us to Europe, but the Europe you are referring to is the WHO European region.
That's 53 countries in Europe and in Asia, including those with low vaccination rates like Romania.
That has never eliminated measles.
If you compare us to Western Europe countries that we often compare ourselves to, like Great Britain, they have seen no measles death this year.
Let me move to the NIH.
In your testimony, you say you want to quote.
And I quote, rescale our biomedical research budget, unquote.
Excuse me, but that's BS.
You are not rescaling NIH research.
You are proposing to cut it by $20 billion.
And according to our colleagues in the...
And I just want to stop right now.
What great has NIH done for humanity in the last 20 years?
And just look at the COVID-1984 debacle.
And when you look at NIH...
And grants overseas, not even the black projects, the stuff we know about.
I mean, you know the drill on the COVID-1984 nightmare, at least on the peripheral.
And if you don't know it, hardcore dig deep.
It's worse.
It's worse than what most of the alternative media will tell you, unfortunately.
Let's continue.
NIH has effectively cut research.
Funding by $2.7 billion this year in comparison to the same period last year.
That's a cut of 35% during that period.
That includes cutting cancer research by 31%.
This is the report put out by the Senate.
Trump's war on science, which goes into detail about how we are, in fact, dealing with cutting scientific research.
Mr. Secretary, are you freezing or withholding funding that Congress...
Look at those rings.
Again, is the circus in town?
How do I take someone like this seriously?
You know, I get, and we're going to play Bernie Sanders because I got my disagreements with Burn Dog for sure, but at least his shtick is measured.
Look at this lunatic!
Appropriated in 2025 for life-saving NIH research.
Let me address your first issue first, because I want to correct you.
We have about 1,100 measles cases in this country.
The growth rate last year was 15 additional, so we have plateaued.
Mexico has roughly the same number with a third of our population, and they got 300 extra cases last week.
Canada has more measles, 1,500.
They have one-eighth of our population.
Your Western Europe has about 6,000, which is 10 times the number that we have.
Oh, you are wrong about what you said.
I mean, that's a pretty strong response there, I would say.
I would say pretty strong response to the measles hype that we also covered earlier in the week.
We can discuss that, but I think one has to consider whether or not we're dealing with decades of data proving how effective and safe the measles vaccine is.
I want to move to that.
I want my questions answered.
I want my questions answered.
And again, the Hunger Games woman, she couldn't get the Bernaysian talking point of safe and effective, right?
She is a repeater.
But it was effective and safe.
I mean, she is a little shaky and getting on in years, and I would imagine those rings are weighing down her hand.
Just saying.
Are you freezing and withholding funding that Congress appropriated in 2025 for life-saving NIH research?
We are not withholding any funding for life-saving research.
Do you commit to following the law?
Of course.
And fully obligating funding that Congress appropriated?
We appropriate it as the law of the land for NIH research and to obligate those funds by September 30th of this year.
Or are you planning to break the law by impounding congressionally appropriated funds?
If you appropriate me the funds, I'm going to spend them.
We have.
In the bill, you are cutting the NIH by $18 billion.
You're proposing to cut it by $20 billion.
The Congress appropriated those funds.
It passed into law.
It's part of the 2024 budget, and we are under a continuing resolution that has adopted the 2024 numbers.
How then can you justify cutting $20 billion from the biomedical research Let me just stop you here.
First of all, again, I'm not sure.
Bobby Kennedy, like he's saying, he doesn't get to decide how much money actually comes in and is appropriated.
To pin that on him is ridiculous.
Should he, as the head of HHS, be going in with these other individuals and looking at the fraud and abuse?
And we were talking about Medicaid.
We were looking just at the Medicaid numbers alone in this country.
Well over 70 million.
That's not Medicare, by the way.
70 plus million people.
Like 40 plus million adults, 30 plus million kids.
Right?
First of all, bar none, just with that comes fraud and abuse within the system.
Forget about the kids and the people.
That is larger than most European countries.
And right on par with the biggest of them.
We went down the line.
France, Germany, UK, down the line.
Their entire population.
And again, I understand the argument for socialized medicine.
Right?
But where's the choice?
Where's the freedom?
I see a lot of dangers associated, again, especially after the COVID-1984 nightmare, and having lunatics like this in power.
If you appropriate the money to me, I'm going to spend that money.
We have appropriated, Mr. Secretary.
Then I'm going to spend it.
Then you're going to spend it.
You're not going to cut $20 billion from the NIH.
The White House proposal is to do very, very large cuts at NIH.
Well, that is contrary to the money appropriated.
If Congress appropriates me the money, I'm going to spend the money.
You have the power of the purse here.
I'm sure you know that.
Thank you for reiterating that, but I think that I'm not sure the administration really has internalized that, particularly Mr. Vogt hasn't internalized that, when he says that we can, in fact, impound money.
The money is there.
The 2024 budget includes the funding for the NIH.
Will you commit to spending the money that is in 2024 in that budget?
As I said, ranking member, if you appropriate The money, I'm going to spend that money.
The money has been appropriated, so the answer to that is you're not willing to accept the funds that have been lawfully voted by a member.
Can you imagine having to be a grown man and be yelled at by this woman?
And I assume they're probably not that far apart in age.
But there you have RFK Jr., who is in...
Very good physical condition, especially for his age, not despite it, is answering these questions calmly, appropriately, and by the way, with actual numbers and evidence, you know, going through, not just letting statements fly, and this woman is just shaking and yelling.
Do you think the shaking and yelling crowd...
Are going to, in any way, get the 30 plus trill, 35 trill debt down?
Now, again, Trump ain't perfect.
And I'll believe it when I see it, too, because I think the military-industrial complex needs big cuts.
You know, I wanted to see them go into the Department of Defense.
I wanted to see the Department of Education, the Department of Energy.
Go down the list.
Again, I get why a lot of people say it's smoke and mirrors, but at least the rhetoric is here.
I guess we'll see what happens with the money and where that money goes.
You know, I guess that is the internal fight right now.
Let's continue.
Here's the House and Senate on the money for the National Institutes of Health.
We're going to hold you to your word that that funding is there.
It should be transferred from 24 to 25, and you've cut already.
$20 billion.
Let's get that money back.
Let's get that money back.
You have an obligation to carry out the law and to implement what the Congress has done.
Unbelievable.
Unbelievable.
Chronic disease and tobacco.
Tobacco use is a major contributor to chronic disease and is a leading preventable cause of death in our nation.
Let me just stop that.
The leading preventable cause of death in our nation, tobacco.
I don't necessarily agree with that.
I mean, let's look at sugar as well.
Can't say the, ooh, that's the banned word, sugar.
Let's really think about this.
Let's think this through.
Okay, I'm not encouraging you to go get a carton of Marb Reds and go to town.
I'm not saying that's the apex of health.
As I stated before, the youth right now, when she tells you what this is for, okay, most of them aren't into cigarettes or tobacco in general.
It's flavored nicotine vials, right?
And again, I think there's some real problems probably down the road for those people that are huffing and puffing on those damn things, right?
But this woman is like screaming about this.
And then talking about cancer research.
I mean, I hope we do get some real cancer research.
In fact, that's going to be the crescendo of this one when he talks to Senator Murray.
So let's go back to Hunger Games outfit.
Each year, killing nearly 500,000 Americans, costing the nation nearly $250 billion in health care costs.
CDC's tips...
From former smokers' media campaign alone, it's estimated to have saved more than $7 billion in health care costs by helping more than 1 million smokers quit.
Why did you eliminate CDC's Office of Smoking and Health, an office that reduces the number of kids using tobacco products, helps order tobacco users to quit, and saves taxpayers dollars?
We have under the reorganization, and I'm going to talk very, very broadly, Because as of 4 o 'clock yesterday afternoon, we are under a court order not to do any further planning on the reorganization.
And I've been advised by my attorneys not to talk about it.
So let me just stop right here.
To all those people that say everything is a facade, everything is a show, When you look at this, and later on RFK Jr. is actually going to answer a question as a quote-unquote lawyer, you see there are legal battles in real time really going on.
You know, is the process punishing?
Yes.
Is the process sometimes the punishment?
Unfortunately, especially when you're talking about the executive branch at the top.
Right now, I would say it's somewhat inverted.
Right?
I love our system of checks and balances, for sure.
All right?
When you look at this lunatic congresswoman, think about the misinformation and disinformation she's put out there.
And again, I thought RFK Jr.'s response on measles, fantastic.
Just good times McGraw.
Let's let him...
Actually, you know what?
Let's get through this one because we're already what?
Yeah, 20-plus minutes deep into this, and there's plenty more to go.
Next one we're going to do, we're going to do this exchange with Chris Murphy.
Because, you know, Chris Murphy, another real pompous guy, says some things and then says, every single one of those things I said was true.
And I'm glad that RFK Jr. is standing up to these bullies.
Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
Secretary Kennedy, I want to talk to you about your relationship with this committee and this Congress.
I want to talk to you about the statements that you made to the chairman of this committee and to members of this committee during your confirmation hearing about vaccines.
You didn't tell the truth.
I find that to be really dangerous for our relationship.
If I were the chairman who believes in vaccines and voted for you because he believed what you said about supporting vaccines, my head would be exploding.
In the hearing, you told us, quote, I will not work to impound, divert, or otherwise reduce any funding appropriated by Congress for the purpose of vaccination programs.
That's not the truth.
Let me finish my question.
I didn't hear what you said.
I'm just asking you to repeat it so I can understand your question.
During the hearing, I'll repeat it.
During the hearing, you said to this committee and to the Finance Committee, I will not work to impound, divert, or otherwise reduce funding appropriated by Congress for the purpose of vaccination programs.
That is not what happened.
You've done the opposite.
You canceled $12 billion in grants to the states, including my state, that are used to administer and track vaccines.
You promised Chairman Cassidy...
When did I do that?
Madam Chair, would you allow me to finish?
Now, again, this guy just wants to sit up there and make...
Blanket statements without any type of rebuttal.
Get a soundbite in.
So he says that RFK Jr. just did that.
And I don't know that I would have an issue if he had done what he just said he did.
But watch what happens when RFK Jr. challenges him on that statement.
My question?
Let me finish my question.
Just tell me when I did it so I can understand what the question is.
You have canceled $12 billion in public health grants to states, whether you know this or not.
That funding is used by the states in part.
Oh, there it is right there.
That funding in states is used in part.
So now we're not...
Now we're moving away from the V word and administering those to in part.
Now listen to what he says next.
To be able to administer and dispense information about vaccines.
Boom!
Administer and dispense information.
Their little disinformation club, their little narrative control center, has absolutely nothing to do with money going into The big V. I just want to point that out.
So this guy lied out of the gates.
Lied out of the gates.
And by the way, the $12 billion is not, again, it's just in part to fund information control on that subject.
Let's continue.
Let me give you the full panoply of the things you said before this committee that didn't turn out to be true.
You also promised Chairman Cassidy that the FDA would not change vaccine standards from, quote, historical norms.
But what happened as soon as you were sworn in?
You announced new standards.
For vaccine approvals that you proudly referred to in your own press release as a radical departure from current practice.
And experts say that that departure will delay approvals.
You also said specific to the measles vaccine that you support the measles vaccine.
But you have consistently been undermining the measles vaccine.
You told the public that the vaccine wanes very quickly.
You went on the Dr. Phil show and said that the measles vaccine was never fully tested for safety.
You said there's fetal debris in the measles vaccine.
And this morning.
All true.
Now, again, this guy is quoting him as if he's not willing to back up what he just said.
He just stops him and says, all true.
True.
Alright?
I mean, look at this.
I get why people are skeptical and concerned.
But at least in 2025, you've got somebody saying those things.
Now, I probably can't say those things on this channel.
I'm probably risking the channel itself just allowing RFK Jr. to say those things.
But it seems like every time...
He's able to retort to these people.
They have nothing more than hollow accusations.
And here's the deal.
When we're talking about different safety trials, etc., I am totally in favor of safety trials that go against full-on placebos.
I mean, that's...
That's what they're talking about when they're saying slow down the production and progress.
Well, there shouldn't be production and progress of these things if they do not have the quote-unquote proper placebo testing.
My goodness.
All true.
Do you want me to lie to the public?
None of that.
Of course it's true.
So again, I can't make commentary.
But if people can't get behind, you know, especially after all these years, I've been doing this for a very long time.
I mean, in the immortal words, and you can say, okay, boomer all you want, of NBA Jam, boom shakalaka.
Of course it's true, Senator.
Senator, you do not know what you're talking about.
Let's have a little bit of order so that you can get your question.
I didn't ask for a response yet.
I understand that.
I'd like to lay out the predicate of my question before I'm interrupted by the witness.
He should have some respect for this committee.
Go ahead.
Just this morning in front of the House of Representatives, you also said that you, in fact, would not recommend that kids get vaccinated for measles.
You said you would just lay out the pros and cons.
Okay, so this is...
The summation of everything that you have said to compromise people's faith in the measles vaccine, in particular, is contrary to what you said before this committee.
You said you support the measles vaccine, but then you have laid out a set of facts that are contested, and I will submit information for the record from experts who contest what you've said about the vaccine, and the result is to undermine faith in the vaccine.
It's kind of like saying, listen, I think you should swim in that lake.
But, you know, the lake is probably toxic and there's probably a ton of snakes and alligators in that lake, but I think you should swim in it.
Nobody's going to swim in that lake if that's what you say.
And so I want you to acknowledge...
Let me just say this.
If they're going to swim in a lake and it happens to have snakes and alligators in it, you tell the person.
You tell the person.
Let me repeat myself.
You tell the person.
That when you say you support the measles vaccine and then go out and repeatedly undermine the vaccine with information that is contested by public health experts, that is not supporting the vaccine.
And so I guess I have two simple questions for you.
One is, can you clarify what you said in the House this morning?
Are you or are you not recommending that families get their children vaccinated?
Or are you just...
Giving people the pros and cons.
And do you understand that when you say these things about the measles vaccine, what ends up happening is less people get the vaccine?
That may be what you want, but do you understand that the result of constantly questioning the efficacy or safety of the vaccine results in less people getting the vaccine?
So I don't necessarily want to spend the remaining 20 seconds in an argument over the science, but do you at least understand?
That's the consequence of what you're saying.
And are you actually still recommending people get the vaccine, or are you not?
Senator, if I advise you to swim in a lake, I knew there'd be alligators, and wouldn't you want me to tell you there were alligators in it?
So are you recommending the measles vaccine or not?
What I've said, and what I've said...
It doesn't sound like you are, if that's...
Are you going to let me answer?
Are you going to keep interrupting?
Are you or are you not?
Are you going to let me answer?
What I pledged before this committee during my confirmation is that I would tell the truth, that I would have radical transparency.
I'm going to tell the truth about everything we know and we don't know about vaccines.
Are you recommending the measles vaccine or not?
I am not going to just tell people everything is safe and effective if I know that there's issues.
I need to respect people's intelligence.
I think you're answering the question.
That's really dangerous for the American public and for families.
It's really dangerous.
For the American public to have all the information.
I mean, that's what these people are telling you.
It's really dangerous for you to have all the information.
It's that malinformation.
It's truthful, but it hurts our narrative.
You ready for Bernie?
I think we're all ready for Bernie Sanders.
Now, look, I'm going to give Bernie some credit here.
Old burn dog.
At least in the very beginning, he's talking about bringing drug prices down, obviously the Trump executive order, and that RFK Jr. has pledged to make our drug prices in this country the lowest in the world.
And look, I'd love to see that, as long as the drugs on the market are actually safe and effective, and if there are, Real side effects.
We're going into that with knowledge.
We're not willy-nilly just prescribing things all over the place.
We're also taking the ads off television.
I really think that this is an arena between you and your doctor, your physician, or several doctors and physicians.
Why?
I think it's good to have numerous opinions.
Wild stuff.
Radical stuff I'm saying here.
Here's Bernie and RFK Jr.
And again, props to Bernie for starting off, at least in a place of agreement.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Let me stop going back to prescription drugs.
Mr. Secretary, did I hear you correctly to state that your goal is to have Americans pay the lowest prices in the world, or equivalent to what is paid in other major countries?
That is my goal.
That you are prepared to work with us?
On legislation to achieve that goal.
Absolutely.
All right.
And I believe there's bipartisan support for it.
I believe that if the leadership here prioritizes that, we can do that in a very short period of time.
Look forward to that.
Let me ask you this as Secretary of HHS.
We have in America today some 85 million Americans who are uninsured or underinsured.
We spend more per capita, as you've indicated, than any other country.
Is healthcare a human right?
Are we making America healthy when so many people cannot afford to go to a doctor, when 68,000 people a year die because they don't get to a doctor when they should?
Is healthcare a human right?
Will you work with us to guarantee healthcare to every man, woman, and child in America?
And look, here comes RFK Jr., the lawyer, but I think...
In this case, especially in the philosophical sense, does the right thing here.
And I'm sure there are those out there that might disagree with me on that point.
Well, I think you're asking two different questions.
You're asking a philosophical question about whether it is a human right, like a constitutional right.
As an attorney, I would say that it's not a right of a kind that we...
Otherwise, enshrined in the Constitution.
Because health care costs your neighbor money.
If I smoke cigarettes for 20 years, I make that choice, which is my choice.
I don't have a lot of time.
If you're asking me a philosophical question, I've got to give you a thoughtful answer.
Within 30 seconds.
It's a problem.
It's not like freedom of speech, which costs, you know, everybody...
But every other country, Mr. Secretary, every other country guarantees health care to all people as a right.
Should we?
As Americans?
The objective is to get Americans at the level of health care if they want the choice, which Americans want.
They don't want the choice to be uninsured.
They don't want the choice to die because they don't get to a doctor on time.
Americans...
Prefer private insurance to other insurance sources.
Do you believe?
Okay.
What I would say is, you know, I want to find a solution to this.
I want every American to have insurance.
President Trump wants every American to be insured and have access to health care.
The question is, how do we get there?
Obamacare is not working.
It is not working.
And a lot of the reasons that it isn't working, it was never really designed to work.
You know, that bill was essentially written by current and ex-Big Pharma executives.
And instead, you have a collusive market.
You don't have one where there's actual competition.
You know, I want to reiterate that.
I mean, when you walk into a doctor's office, a hospital, an emergency care center, etc., The price is negotiable.
It's the only place that you're going to go where there's a cash price, there's an insurance price, they might take your insurance, they might not, they might do this, they might not.
If we had true competition, first of all, that arena would be advertised more and really on the record of success, but those would be procedural.
And not drugs.
See how everything's inverted?
Right?
And the question of whether or not healthcare is a human right, I'm going to do everything in my power to ensure that you, your loved ones, my loved ones, myself, live a long and happy life as much as possible.
But actions have consequences as well.
Right?
I'm not full-on libertarian that, hey, That person doesn't have insurance.
You don't help them.
Or, hey, that person doesn't have any money or a home and they need an ambulance and you don't give it to them.
No.
You see somebody, you better help them in an emergency situation.
My biggest issue, of course, with socialized medicine is what are we talking about here?
Like, what level of care?
We're about to move in to the Internet of Bodies if these people have their way.
Automated AI healthcare.
And we've seen how awesome the AI narrative is on so many issues at this point.
Let's get back to Bernie and RFK Jr.
By the way...
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And this is the...
Sorry to interrupt you.
All right.
The reconciliation...
My job is to try to make it work.
All right, I have limited time.
The reconciliation bill that is now being worked on in the House will come to the Senate.
As it stands right now, cuts Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act by more than $715 billion, which the CBO has estimated would eliminate health insurance for 13.7 million Americans, and also raise co-payments for millions of others.
Off of the health care they have.
Poor and working class people keeping America healthy.
Well, I haven't seen that number.
I've seen the number 8 million.
And here are the people...
The cuts are not true cuts.
The cuts are eliminations of waste, abuse, and fraud.
And I can go through.
I can go through the people who will lose it.
A million people...
There are a million people...
I really don't need to be rude, but...
As you know, I have a very limited amount of time.
You ask the question, I'm going to answer it.
Well, yeah, I've got a bunch of questions that I would like you to answer as well.
So again, he doesn't want a real answer.
And this is where, you know, earlier we talked about the fraud, the abuse.
Again, I want a smaller budget.
I want accountability.
But Bernie doesn't want any of the answers that aren't convenient talking points, unfortunately.
He just moves on.
I want answers to a lot of questions.
Well, he didn't want an answer to that one.
See how that's problematic, Burndog?
Talk about austerity doing more with less.
But in that very same bill that is being worked on in the House right now, there are $235 billion in tax breaks for the top two-tenth of 1%.
Do you think that makes sense when that same bill would throw 13 million people off of Medicaid?
Should we give?
Tax breaks to billionaires and throw kids and others off of Medicaid.
You're conflating the congressional bills with proposals from the president.
The president...
No, I'm talking about the congressional bill.
I'm talking about the bill, the reconciliation bill.
I mean, the president is not trying to do tax cuts for billionaires.
He's trying to have no tax on tips and no tax...
$235 billion by expense.
How many billionaires do you know that are making overtime or making any part of the money?
$235 billion.
Look, it's a big bill.
There are a lot of provisions in it.
But you cannot deny it.
The top two-tenths of one percent will get $235 billion in tax rates while we cut Medicaid.
So there it is.
And again, I've already harped on Medicaid.
You know, I was going to do Steny Hoyer.
I think that we're probably going to skip standing and we're going to go to Senator Murray on the cancer issue.
Because this one, in my opinion, really speaks for itself on how self-serving many of these individuals are and how they just can't wait for that talking point moment, even if it doesn't have any substance or even if it is the inversion of the very reality.
Chairman, Mr. Secretary, one of my constituents, her name's Natalie Phelps.
She's a mom of two from Bainbridge Island in Washington State.
She has been fighting aggressive stage four collateral cancer for nearly five years now.
Her best hope now is a clinical trial she's participating in at the NIH Clinical Center.
She flew out to NIH a few weeks ago for her first appointment.
And her care team there wanted her to come back in four weeks to start treatment.
But because of the thoughtless mass firing of thousands of critical employees across NIH and HHS that you carried out, Natalie's doctors at that clinical center have told her they have no choice but to delay her treatment by an additional four weeks.
Now, an extra four weeks may not sound like a long time, but I will tell you, for stage four cancer patients like Natalie, this could mean the difference between life and death.
Secretary Kennedy, how many staff have been cut from the NIH's clinical center?
I want a specific number.
I can't tell you that now, Senator Barber, but I can tell you.
Is that if you contact my office tomorrow, I'll look specifically into that.
Well, that is not acceptable.
I want an answer back by that.
She deserves it.
I do it.
She doesn't have much time.
She deserves an answer back.
Wouldn't you rather get her into that clinical trial as fast as you can?
Absolutely.
All right, so if you contact my office tomorrow, this is a...
You are here to defend your budget.
I'm here to ask you questions about the impact of that.
You asked me about a specific case that I want to help with.
I don't think that should happen to anybody.
Okay, well what have you, and I mean you personally done...
So again, is it about this woman's life or her talking points?
We're talking about clinical trials here.
So again, I don't even know the specific treatments.
Neither of them are talking about the Pacific treatments, but he just offered an olive branch and she wanted to throw it on the fire.
That's all I'm going to say.
...to assess how those staff cuts are impacting patient care.
She is one of many.
What have you done to assess that?
I provided the guidelines that said no clinical trials should be affected by the cuts.
I have...
Mr. Secretary, I just have a short amount of time.
So again, he just said, I'm not trying to cut these.
Maybe point out some specifics and we'll see what we're talking about here.
They are impacting clinical trials.
Who asked me a question?
Do you want me to answer it?
I want to tell you, you need to know this.
You're here to defend the NIH budget.
Senator, do you want me to answer your question?
Well, I want to tell you that Natalie is sitting there waiting for treatment.
I'm offering to help her, but you don't care.
You don't care about Natalie.
I've offered to help Natalie.
I am asking you a question, and it is critical.
You are here to defend cutting NIH.
NIH by half.
Do you genuinely believe that that won't result in more stories like Natalie's?
I think the cuts that are now proposed by NIH are going to hurt.
I think that President Trump, you know, listen, there's no agency head in the government like myself that wants to see their budget cut.
I asked you, have you personally assessed what this is doing to patients?
And I am telling you one story of one person, it is impacting life or death situation.
And he's offering that person a solution.
I mean, you came with the assumption that you were going to be able to tell one story and then let everybody imagine that there were a multitude of these stories out there.
And maybe there are, but you can't seem to source them.
And this guy is saying, hey, well, at least in this case, let's do something about it.
And he's already said that in these trials, they're not trying to cut those.
Do you want me to answer your question, Senator?
Well, you did.
I am not.
You have not allowed me to answer it.
Well, I will just say that it is my job to be a voice for people like Natalie and countless other patients who are like her.
So you've got to fix that.
Do you not understand it's all about her?
I mean, she just invoked herself right there.
You know, I often talk about it because it's true.
Now, I don't know if this person's a psychopath.
I don't know that much about her.
But everything about this encounter is sociopathic behavior.
Sociopathic behavior.
I can only hope.
That she did contact Kennedy's office after this?
And this woman does get the help that she needs?
Or at least the attempt at that help since this is a trial?
We are talking cancer here?
Yes.
I want to know and I want a personal update on Natalie's case.
And you offered that.
Please give that to me in the next 24 hours.
And I expect details and transparency about the state of NIH clinical care.
You contact my office, Senator, and I will do everything in my power to try to get Natalie into that.
I've got one minute left, and I want to ask you about the NIOSH cuts.
I am really alarmed by your decision to essentially eliminate the National Institutes for Occupational Safety and Health.
You've already fired nearly 90% of the staff.
That includes the staff in my state at the Spokane Research I just want to say this.
What great stuff have they kept away from us?
What have they recommended that's been so healthy, so great, so safe and effective that all these people chimed in on?
Those are experts.
They do essential work to protect miners and firefighters and farm workers, people who work in dangerous conditions.
I am told that after a backlash, you are reinstating some of those, mainly in the West Virginia office, but nobody in the Western United States.
And there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to how you've made these decisions.
And how do you explain this to my constituents in Spokane who are out of a job and the workers that are being impacted by that?
The work in NIOSH will not be interrupted.
I've brought back 328 workers, mainly in the Cleveland office and the Morgantown office and for the World Trade Center site, and that work will continue.
The work on mine safety will continue.
The epicenter of that work has been Cleveland and it's been Morgantown.
We understand it's a critically important function, and I did not want to see it end.
I mean, again, say what you want about the guy.
I think there was a reason that he was a viable presidential candidate.
I think there's a reason that the Democratic Party didn't want him to get that nomination in the fear that he would have done to that party what's been done to the Republican Party.
None of it perfect.
None of it perfect.
But now, I mean, we've at least got the conversation not only on the table but in the mainstream.
And the new quote-unquote establishment are the ones that are bringing it to us in many regards.
You know, there's a lot to discuss, especially when we're talking about technology, artificial intelligence, the warfare going on not only in the Middle East, but Ukraine, Russia.
I get it.
And we talk about all those things.
I could have done another dozen interactions.
With RFK Jr. and broken him down.
And quite frankly, I'm extremely happy that we the people have pushed this into that arena.
And we can't pull back now.
We've got to continue marching forward.
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