The Bernie Buzz

On July 31, Dr. Susan Monarez was sworn in as our nation’s first Senate-confirmed director of the CDC. At her swearing-in ceremony, Secretary Kennedy called Dr. Monarez “a public health expert with unimpeachable scientific credentials.” Less than a month later, on August 27, Dr. Monarez was fired because she refused to rubber stamp Secretary Kennedy’s dangerous agenda to substantially limit the use of safe and effective vaccines. In my view, that action would endanger the lives of the American people and people throughout the world.

I wanted to share with you a speech I gave today on the floor of the Senate regarding the possibility of a government shutdown.

If politicians love America, they must love America’s children and invest in their future. In the richest country in the history of the world, we cannot tolerate having the highest rate of childhood poverty of any major country on Earth. Today, 14 million kids don’t have enough to eat. More than 4 million kids do not have health insurance and millions more are underinsured. Hundreds of thousands of children are homeless each year. That is an outrage.

A free and democratic society, which is what America is supposed to be about, depends upon the basic premise that people can speak out, organize and take part in public life without fear — without worrying that they might be killed, injured or humiliated for expressing their political views. In fact, that is the essence of what freedom is about and what democracy is about.

Earlier this week, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wrote an op-ed claiming that, under his leadership, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is “Restoring Public Trust in the CDC”. That would be laughable if it weren’t dangerously wrong. In my view, Mr. Kennedy is waging a war against science and the well-being of the American people that is founded in politics and personal enrichment.

On Sunday, nearly 400 Vermont seniors from across Chittenden County joined me in Burlington to share a meal, listen to music from local musician Allison Fay and participate in conversation. It’s no surprise that the issues these Vermonters are focused on are the same that I hear from working people about every day — the skyrocketing cost of our broken health care system, cuts to Medicaid, threats to Social Security, access to veterans’ benefits, the environment and much more.