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The Executive Branch Must Act Within Its Authority

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Published in The Post Newspaper February 16, 2025 Since the Inauguration of President Trump, some have described the Senate confirmation process a circus rather than government performing its constitutional duty. One floor vote even required the Vice-President to cast the deciding vote.  Of the many hearings, one seems most troubling, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. who has been nominated to be the Secretary of Health and Human Services.  The circus act created by Democrat Senators was replete with multiple interruptions of Mr. Kennedy.  As he tried to answer questions he was interrupted, denying him the chance of responding while also displaying that the questioners didn’t really want an answer, or at least they didn’t want to hear what the witness was saying.  It’s fine to ask questions, even difficult and probing ones, but failing to allow a witness the ability to respond reflects poorly not only on the Senators asking the questions but also on the institution and its role of giving “advice and consent.”   It moves the process from being fact finding to grandstanding, from wanting to learn more about the nominee to being all about individual senators and their pontifications. In the mist of this circus, one rational mind, Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) and son of our former Texas Congressman Ron Paul, opened his comments by saying, “I think the discussion over vaccines is so over simplified and dumbed down that we never really get to real truth.” As a medical doctor with a family practice experience, Paul skillfully chastised the grandstanders with real facts.  He noted Americans face a deeply rooted culture of poor nutrition heaped upon us often by those who should have been fostering health but are in reality seeking to enrich themselves.   Paul focused the unhealthy trends, especially with youth obesity.  From the testimony is seems that both Paul and Kennedy reject the notion that one size fits all as it comes to the use of vaccines.  Kennedy support vaccines regiments for newborn/young children. But they both disagreed with the notion that the young needed to receive the numerous COVID shots.  It appeared that Kennedy’s detractors oppose his nomination because he is a Democrat who supported Donald Trump during the 2024 campaign and that he is willing to take on the pharmaceutical industry.  In fact, Kennedy pointed out that the committee’s Democrats had received millions of dollars of donations from pharmaceutical companies and that he, unlike them, was not willing to kowtow to the industry’s beckoned call. At one point Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) interrupted and tried to shout Kennedy down when Kennedy tried to disclose the amount of donations the senator had received from these special interest groups. It is unfortunate the power some influential food producers and drug companies have and the actions they are willing to take in order to bolster their interests and bottom lines as opposed to focusing on improving the health of Americans.  Unfortunately, money begets influence and power and unrestricted power corrupts absolutely. Americans spend the more on health than most of the world while being the unhealthiest.  Addictive sugars, highly processed foods have taken over many people’s diets, raising healthcare costs exponentially. Kennedy, an admitted former drug addict, seeks to restore both personal choice and the disclosure of truthful unbiased information.  He’s not the anti-vac person the profit seekers make him out to be.  Kennedy is not our kind of guy on many issues, but when it comes to encouraging healthy food production and allowing personal choice on health-related issues, we think he’s got it right.  On Thursday, February 13th, the Senate confirmed Robert Kennedy’s nomination by a vote of 52 to 48, in a straight party-line vote with former minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) being the only GOP defector.
	About the Authors and Columnists 2025 Bill Sargent and Mark Mansius have written over 300 guest columns and editorials over the last ten years for numerous publications and continue to do so. Bill lives in Galveston, Texas and Mark in St. Georges, Utah. Both Bill and Mark ran against each other in the 2012 Republican Primary for Texas Congressional District 14. Since then they have become close friends and colleagues.
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