Surgeon general hearing to reopen RFK Jr. battles
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Thursday's Senate confirmation hearing for surgeon general nominee Casey Means is due to reopen concerns from Democrats and some Republicans about Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the "Make America Healthy Again" movement.
Why it matters: Means is an ally of Kennedy and the MAHA movement, and if confirmed as the nation's top doctor would have the power to amplify his concerns about chronic disease and doubts about vaccines.
Driving the news: Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) told Axios she pressed Means on her vaccine views during a Zoom call on Tuesday.
- "I raised them as a concern, yeah," Murkowski said, adding there are issues the two discussed "that I want to get cleared up" during the hearing at the Senate health committee.
- Sen. Jon Husted of Ohio, another GOP committee member, told Axios that farmers in his state had concerns about Means' views on corn syrup and pesticides.
- "I've had some Ohio farmers, corn growers, concerned about some of her statements regarding that industry," he said Wednesday. "I'm sure a lot these issues are going to get aired [Thursday]."
What they're saying: Means, who is pregnant and will appear virtually, still is likely to have plenty of defenders on the GOP side of the dais, meaning the sharper attacks are likely to come from Democrats.
- Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) said she had concerns about conflicts of interest stemming from the way Means has made thousands of dollars promoting supplements and other health products, as Stat reported.
- Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) said "there are issues about vaccines and her experience," but that he is not "prejudging" before the hearing.
Means will highlight Kennedy's live-healthy, question-drug-companies mantra in her prepared remarks.
- "Public health leadership must address the modifiable drivers of chronic disease identified in the MAHA Assessment: poor diet, chemical exposure, lack of physical activity and chronic stress, and overmedicalization," Means will say, according to prepared remarks.
Between the lines: Means was trained as a physician at Stanford before dropping out of her residency program, saying she wanted to focus instead on the root causes of disease.
- She has a broad social media following and a newsletter, and has made high-profile appearances on conservative podcasts. Like Kennedy, she has support among certain Democratic- and independent-leaning suburbanites, women and younger voters.
- "There is growing evidence that the total burden of the current extreme and growing vaccine schedule is causing health declines in vulnerable children," she wrote in her newsletter last year.
- Means' health entrepreneur brother, Calley Means, is an adviser to President Trump.
What we're watching: Senate health committee Chair Bill Cassidy will be closely watched given his rocky relationship with Kennedy, who made assurances on vaccine access to win Cassidy's support for his nomination.
- Cassidy was tight-lipped when asked in the Capitol on Wednesday about what he wants to hear from Means: "Whatever her answers are to the questions that are asked," Cassidy replied.
- A spokesperson for the senator said he "looks forward to discussing with Dr. Means how she will accomplish President Trump's mission of delivering radical transparency and restoring trust in our health institutions."
The bottom line: Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), a physician who leads the Senate's MAHA Caucus, said he anticipates familiar lines of attack from Democrats but added, "I hope that we can move on to how do we make America healthy again. 70% of Americans have a chronic disease now."
