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Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene cleverly used her hands on Thursday to let a complaining Democrat know what she thought.

The fun encounter happened during a House Oversight Committee hearing about pandemics.

As Rep. Robert Garcia, a Democrat, complained about Ronald F. Kennedy Jr’s nomination to serve as Department of Health and Human Services secretary, Greene began clapping with alacrity.

Watch:

Garcia began his complaints by citing an ABC News article that claimed RFK would “gut” the National Institutes of Health if he were made HHS secretary.

“The fact that we’re considering to bring somebody on with no scientific or medical credentials who’s falsely claimed for decades of vaccines cause autism, who has quite frankly said just outrageous comments about science and medicine,” he began. “That this person could come in to gut the NIH, I think is shameful.”

It’s at this point that Greene began clapping, much to Garcia’s annoyance.

“Ms. Greene, you can clap all you want, but it is shameful, it’s dangerous,” he continued. “And if this committee is about pandemic prevention, we should be very concerned as a country that RFK Jr. could be put in charge of health when he is a vaccine denier and has caused great harm to the American public.”

Greene is definitely a big-time RFK supporter. Asked by CNN on Thursday about what would happen if her Senate Republican colleagues rejected RFK’s nomination, Greene threatened severe consequences.

“Well then they have to deal with Donald Trump and they’ll have to deal with Elon Musk and his great new PAC and the American people,” she said. “This is a mandate.”

Listen:

As for Garcia, he isn’t the only Democrat to have complained about RFK’s nomination as HHS secretary.

“Mr. Kennedy’s outlandish views on basic scientific facts are disturbing and should worry all parents who expect schools and other public spaces to be safe for their children,” Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden said in a statement.

However, speaking with Politico, he did admit there are “several issues” he sees eye to eye with RFK on, including “tobacco and organic agriculture.”

“There’s no telling how far an anti-vaxxer & fringe conspiracy theorist like RFK Jr. could set America back in terms of public health, reproductive rights, research, & more,” Washington Sen. Patty Murray likewise said. “And the consequences are not theoretical — they’re life or death issues.”

“Nominating someone who resigned from Congress to avoid a damning report about his sexual misconduct to run the Justice Department?” Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen tweeted. “Putting a vaccine and science denier in charge of HHS? This is the definition of insanity.”

Here is what Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey tweeted:

Most Republicans meanwhile have responded to RFK’s nomination much like Greene.

For example, Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson tweeted that he’s “a brilliant, courageous truth-teller,” Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville tweeted that he’s “an absolutely brilliant pick,” and Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley tweeted that RFK’s nomination marks a “bad day for Big Pharma.”

But there have been naysayers.

“We’d like to see some nominations of people who actually know something about the institution they are expected to lead and reform,” one GOP lawmaker anonymously told Axios. “RFK knows nothing about how CMS or the FDA really work.”

“Even if we agree with RFK’s reforms and some of his ideas on health, he is not qualified to effectively implement those reforms,” they added.

Moving forward, Make America Healthy Again PAC spokesperson Jeff Hutt, who previously served as RFK’s national field director during the 2024 race, is poised to brief health policy staffers on Capitol Hill about what exactly his boss is envisioning.

Vivek Saxena
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