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Amid a flurry of disinformation and non-science-based medical advisories from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), a Democratic lawmaker has indicated she is readying articles of impeachment against HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Kennedy has peddled myriad falsehoods about vaccination over the years, including errant statements regarding their efficacy and safety and wrongly claiming that vaccines are linked to autism.
As head of HHS, he removed all members of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advisory committee on immunization, and filled the vacancies mostly with anti-vaxxers and conspiracy theorists.
More recently, Kennedy, alongside President Donald Trump and other health officials, announced that it was the White House’s official position that acetaminophen use during pregnancy could lead to children being born with autism — a statement that is contradicted by studies examining whether there is a causal relationship between the two. Medical experts have condemned the guidance as disinformation, noting that leaving fevers or pain untreated during pregnancy can result in grave complications.
Upon taking office, Kennedy fired thousands of workers at HHS. He later announced that his department would rehire many of the workers who were terminated, but failed to do so.
In response to these and other controversial actions under his short tenure, more than 1,000 current employees at HHS wrote an open letter calling for Kennedy, who has zero experience in the health field, to step down.
Several weeks later, Kennedy is still in his post. Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Michigan) said that, because he remains a threat to Americans’ health, she is drafting articles of impeachment against Kennedy.
“Health care chaos. Reckless cuts. Rising costs. Michiganders and families across the country are paying the price for RFK Jr.’s agenda,” Stevens wrote in a post on X Thursday morning. “Enough is enough, which is why I’m drafting articles of impeachment against @SecKennedy.”
In a press release on her congressional website, Stevens elaborated on her call for impeachment, saying:
“[Kennedy’s] contempt for science, the constant spreading of conspiracy theories, and his complete disregard for the thousands of research hours spent by America’s top doctors and experts is unprecedented, reckless, and dangerous. Enough is enough – we need leaders who put science over chaos, facts over lies, and people over politics.”
In her complaint, Stevens said that Kennedy has cut lifesaving research for various programs, including research on cancer, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, and addiction. He has also canceled research on mRNA vaccines, and peddled lies that have created greater vaccine hesitancy among the public, she noted.
Kennedy “made promises to Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee Chairman Bill Cassidy (R-LA), which he has not upheld,” Stevens’s press release stated. (Some critics have suggested that the HHS secretary may have committed perjury during his confirmation hearings.)
“Secretary Kennedy has violated his oath of office and proven himself unfit to serve the American people,” Stevens added. “Congress must act to hold him accountable, and I intend to lead the charge to remove him from office.”
Stevens’s chances of successfully impeaching Kennedy — let alone removing him from office — are slim to none due to the Republican majority held in both houses of Congress. However, polling indicates that most Americans don’t trust Kennedy’s health advice and have a negative view of his job performance.
A Quinnipiac University poll published this week found that only 33 percent of Americans approve of Kennedy’s handling of HHS since he was approved to become department secretary. Meanwhile, 54 percent of Americans disapprove of his work so far.
When asked about their confidence in medical information cited by Kennedy, only 39 percent of respondents said they were “very confident” or “somewhat confident” in his advice. Fifty-seven percent said they were “not so confident” or “not at all confident” in what he had to say.
Although the poll was published on Wednesday, it was conducted from September 18-21 — before Kennedy and Trump promoted their baseless claims on acetaminophen.
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