Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders sent a Republican senator into a tailspin of fury Wednesday during the Senate confirmation hearing for Dr. Casey Means, President Donald Trump’s nominee for U.S. surgeon general.
Sanders, the ranking member on the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, had raised concerns about the spread of right-wing misinformation surrounding vaccines, particularly the claim entertained by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr that inoculations cause autism in infants.
“The overwhelming body of scientific evidence says vaccines do not cause autism,” the senator had said, quoting findings from the American Medical Association and challenging Means to definitively back its position over Kennedy’s. The candidate had answered him carefully, saying it was important to study all leads.
Also responding, Oklahoma Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin launched into a long-winded oration about the importance of scientific inquiry and the need for taking a practical approach to reforming the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as “Obamacare.”
“How dare us look at science? My goodness, science is supposed to be perfect? I thought science was always supposed to be studied,” the senator mused.
“I’m not a doctor, I’m not sitting here trying to say we shouldn’t do something. I’m saying, let’s go after it, let’s look at it, let’s question what we’re doing.”
He continued: “Let’s look at the healthcare system. We can agree on that one – I just don’t want to socialize it. But we can agree that it is absolutely not affordable. One hundred percent not affordable. Yet, it was supposed to be affordable. That’s what we were sold by Obamacare.
“So how about we work together and say, hey, scrap ACA, admit it doesn’t work, admit you guys made a mistake, and let’s work at something with President Trump to make affordable healthcare healthy and affordable for everybody, but there’s zero chance you guys could do that. Zero chance. Yet everybody we bring up here, you guys chastised for trying to make changes. God forbid we change and try to fix our broken system.”
Finally drawing to a close, Mullin said, “Anyway, I ranted too long.”
“Yes, you did,” piped up Sanders.
Infuriated, Mullin hit back: “I’m sorry. I didn’t ask your opinion on that, and if I cared about your opinion, I would ask you. But I don’t care about your opinion. You’re part of the system. You’re part of the problem.
“You’ve been sitting here longer than I’ve even been alive. This is your problem. You should have fixed this a long time ago. You’ve been railing on it for so long. What have you been doing?”
“I decided not to run for surgeon-general,” Sanders responded. “You’re the nominee I’ve decided.”
“That is definitely something we would never accept,” muttered Mullin, still fuming.
The pair have previously clashed, arguing heatedly in a 2023 exchange that also involved Teamsters union president Sean O’Brien, and again last December, a week before Christmas, when Mullin called Sanders “The Grinch” for voting against his Mikaela Naylon Give Kids a Chance Act.
Their latest feud received a predictably polarized response on social media, with MAGA commentators cheering for “pummelling” and “nuking” the veteran lawmaker, who accused the leftist of making a “cheap shot.”
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