Jan 17, 2025

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Driving The Day

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on the phone as he walks with aides

A new ad campaign is trying to dissuade GOP senators from voting to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as HHS secretary. | Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

ANTI-RFK JR. ADS RAMP UP — The latest anti-Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ads by a progressive nonprofit will target senators the group believes could cast the deciding vote in confirming Kennedy to lead HHS, Chelsea reports.

314 Action is launching a $250,000 digital ad campaign aimed at key senators from nine states. Earlier this month, the group’s president, Shaughnessy Naughton, appeared with Democratic doctors at a press conference at which they condemned Kennedy for his past work as an anti-vaccine activist.

Background: 314 Action has already spent six figures on advertising to oppose Kennedy. The ads connect his past anti-vaccine activism in Samoa with a measles outbreak that led to more than 80 deaths in 2019. The group initially ran an advertisement in Washington that featured Democratic Hawaii Gov. Josh Green, who recently visited Capitol Hill to urge lawmakers to reject Kennedy.

The same ad will now run in Alaska, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, North Carolina, South Dakota, Texas and Utah.

The senators from those states include Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), a polio survivor who sharply criticized Kennedy’s associates for seeking to rescind the authorization of a polio vaccine, and Bill Cassidy (R-La.), chair of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, who called Kennedy’s views on vaccines “wrong” and later had a tepid response to meeting the nominee.

The ads also target Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and John Cornyn (R-Texas), who met with Kennedy recently and after seemed unconcerned about his vaccine views. Murkowski told POLITICO that Kennedy thinks people should be informed about vaccines, while Cornyn told reporters that Kennedy wasn’t anti-vaccine but “pro-safety.”

Other senators targeted include Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), John Curtis (R-Utah) and Mike Rounds (R-S.D.).

Why it matters: Kennedy can lose only three Republican votes and still win confirmation if every Democratic senator opposes him. Kennedy was back on Capitol Hill this week to meet with more senators, including Democratic Sens. Tim Kaine of Virginia and Patty Murray of Washington.

Murray urged her colleagues to vote against Kennedy on the Senate floor following her meeting, citing his views on vaccines.

Kennedy has said he has no plans to restrict vaccines and merely wants the public to have more information about their safety and efficacy.

A Kennedy spokesperson posted on X that he had his 50th Senate meeting on Thursday.

WELCOME TO FRIDAY PULSE. A very chilly Inauguration Weekend is about to kick off. Are you going to the inauguration or any inaugural balls? Let us know how it goes and send your tips, scoops and feedback to ccirruzzo@politico.com and follow along @ChelseaCirruzzo.

A message from AMAC Action:

The Inflation Reduction Act took billions from the Medicare Part D prescription drug program to fund electric vehicle tax credits and green energy investments, and now seniors’ prescription drug premiums are skyrocketing. Seniors are calling on Congress to pause the Inflation Reduction Act and return those funds back to Medicare where they belong. Visit PauseTheIRA.com.

AROUND THE AGENCIES

President Joe Biden speaks to Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough

VA Secretary Denis McDonough (left), is stepping down from the agency after expanding veterans' benefits and navigating health records troubles. | Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP

THE VA SECRETARY’S DEPARTING LEGACY — The head of the VA will leave the agency alongside other members of the Biden administration on Monday, with supporters crediting his efforts to restore faith in the agency after wait-time scandals and other major issues, POLITICO’s Ben Leonard reports.

Secretary Denis McDonough, who implemented a sweeping expansion of benefits for veterans exposed to toxins, departs as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office Monday. He has selected former Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.) to lead the agency.

As secretary, McDonough implemented one of the most significant pieces of legislation signed into law by President Joe Biden — the PACT Act, which expanded benefits for veterans exposed to toxins like Agent Orange and burn pits where troops disposed of trash and debris in Afghanistan and Iraq.

McDonough did not comment for this story.

Some veterans groups were initially disheartened that Biden didn’t pick a veteran to lead the agency, given McDonough’s lack of military service. He’s only the second confirmed VA secretary to not have served, after Dr. David Shulkin.

McDonough’s VA also grappled with a troubled electronic health records modernization project that the Trump administration initiated. It quickly flailed and is now billions of dollars over budget and tied to several veterans’ deaths. The program has been on pause since April 2023, with a goal to resume in 2026.

The VA has also acted on several social issues, some of which the incoming Trump administration is expected to overturn, including allowing abortions when the life or health of a veteran or beneficiary is in peril or in cases of rape or incest — a policy that covers dependents.

The agency also began funding the study of psychedelic therapy for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder or alcohol-use disorder for the first time in decades.

"VA is on the cutting edge of clinical research for Veteran health, including in the investigation of psychedelics for mental health," Shereef Elnahal, the VA undersecretary for health, said in a statement last month.

A message from AMAC Action:

In Memoriam

FORMER TRUMP HEALTH OFFICIAL DIES — A key senior health official who played a central role in Operation Warp Speed during President-elect Donald Trump’s first term has died, POLITICO’s Lauren Gardner reports.

Paul Mango’s death was confirmed by four people with knowledge of his passing, who were granted anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

A longtime health care consultant, Mango spent three years in the Trump administration, including as deputy chief of staff at HHS and was central in the creation of Operation Warp Speed, the federal initiative designed to accelerate the development of a Covid-19 vaccine.

Mango later touted Warp Speed, which helped generate two vaccines for the disease in less than a year, as an unprecedented example of cross-government collaboration and efficiency in an inside account of the vaccine sprint that he published in 2022.

Mango was tapped to help with transition plans for the federal health department after Trump won reelection in November.

He most recently was an adviser at Paragon Health Institute, a conservative think tank.

Names in the News

Robert Cain, president and CEO of the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine, has been appointed president of the Federation of Associations of Schools of the Health Professions.

WHAT WE'RE READING

POLITICO’s David Lim and Lauren Gardner report that the FDA has authorized Zyn nicotine products.

The Washington Post reports on what foods contain red dye No. 3, which will be banned in the U.S. in 2027.

The New York Times reports on the new face of cancer: young and middle-aged women.

A message from AMAC Action:

The IRA took money from Medicare Part D to fund EV tax credits under the guise of a fake “drug price negotiation.” As premiums are skyrocketing, seniors are demanding their money back.

70% of seniors are calling on Congress to pause the Inflation Reduction Act.

85% of them want the money that was taken from Medicare to fund EV tax credits to be returned to Medicare where it belongs.

Congress: It’s time to pause the IRA and fix what it broke, first by giving money back to Medicare.

Visit PauseTheIRA.com to learn more.