Senator Murray: “If there are any adults left in the White House, it’s well past time they face reality… We cannot let RFK Jr. burn what’s left of the CDC and our other critical health agencies to the ground—he must be fired.”
Senator Murray at July 9, 2025 HELP markup of Monarez nomination: “We could actually have the best CDC director in the world, and it wouldn’t change the fact that we have a person leading HHS who is an anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist—and a Committee that I fear is failing to do its bipartisan, public oversight of public health disasters… I really do hope that Dr. Monarez will defy my expectations, I hope she will stand up for science, and put public health first.” – MORE HERE
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), a senior member and former chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, released the following statement in response to Director Susan Monarez’s public statement regarding RFK Jr.’s attempts to weaponize public health and put the lives of the American people at risk and the abrupt resignation of senior officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
“I had serious doubts about Director Monarez’s willingness to stand up against RFK Jr.’s personal mission to destroy public health in America—I’m glad to say that I was wrong.
“Susan Monarez’s willingness to stand up for science and protect the integrity of the CDC is commendable and deeply important—however, it only further underscores the reality at HHS: Director Monarez is not the problem, RFK Jr. is. If there are any adults left in the White House, it’s well past time they face reality and fire RFK Jr. He is a dangerous man who is determined to abuse his authority to act on truly terrifying conspiracy theories and disinformation—leaving us unprepared for the next deadly pandemic and snuffing out potential cures while he’s at it. He has already taken utterly reckless steps to dismantle our public health infrastructure, and he has even undermined President Trump’s own legacy of helping establish access to lifesaving vaccines through groundbreaking mRNA research.
“Further we should all be deeply disturbed by the resignation of highly qualified CDC officials whose work quite literally saves lives. It will be an extremely frightening world if the CDC is hollowed out and its ranks filled only by conspiracy theorists that RFK Jr. agrees with. RFK Jr. comes into conflict with every credible researcher, scientist, or doctor because he lives in his own unhinged world of anti-vaccine disinformation—our current trajectory is not tenable. We need serious people working at CDC and across HHS.
“We cannot let RFK Jr. burn what’s left of the CDC and our other critical health agencies to the ground—he must be fired. I hope my Republican colleagues who have come to regret their vote to confirm RFK Jr. will join me in calling for his immediate termination from office.”
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