{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.tuberville.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/tuberville-speaks-at-confirmation-hearing-for-cdc-director-hhs-nominee/", "Tuberville Speaks at Confirmation Hearing for CDC Director, HHS Nominee", "2026-07-16", "2026", "2026-07", "Republican", "Senate", "AL", "Tommy Tuberville", "T000278", "www.tuberville.senate.gov", "tuberville", "https://www.tuberville.senate.gov/press-releases/", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 Yesterday, U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) spoke with Dr. Erica Schwartz, President Trump\u2019s nominee for Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and Sean Kaufman, President Trump\u2019s nominee for Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), during today\u2019s Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee hearing.\n\nDuring the hearing, Sen. Tuberville discussed federal vaccine policy, alternative treatment options, and the need to rebuild Americans\u2019 trust in the nation\u2019s public-health system. Sen. Tuberville also spoke about the importance of nutrition, physical fitness, and disease prevention.\n\nExcerpts from Sen. Tuberville\u2019s statement can be found below or viewed on YouTube or Rumble.\n\nTUBERVILLE: \u201cMr. Chairman, thank you. Thank you both for being here today. Thank you for your willingness to serve, to go through the education you have gone through, and thanks for your dedication to our country.\n\nTalking about vaccines, I would hope the federal government would stay out of the damn vaccine business. I\u2019ve got young grandkids, and they want them to take 70 vaccines before they are two years old. That is bullcrap. Let the parents decide that decision. That doesn\u2019t need to belong in the federal government. Now, if you want to recommend them, I am all for that. But, my God, let\u2019s get away from this nonsense.\n\nI want to get into something that the Biden administration got involved in. It is called monoclonal antibodies. Most of us have never heard of that, but they were saving lives. The Biden administration wouldn\u2019t let you have them unless you had the damn vaccine. That is ridiculous. That is ridiculous. Mr. Kaufman, how are you going to handle that situation if and when we have our next disaster in this country\u2014caused by humans, basically, given how the federal government got involved in COVID\u2014how would you handle that?\u201d\n\nKAUFMAN: \u201cSenator, thank you for the question.\n\nIn 2014, I had the opportunity to serve at Emory University\u2019s Serious Communicable Diseases Unit, where Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol were treated for Ebola during the 2014 epidemic. I witnessed firsthand a gentleman [\u2026] within hours of receiving a dose of monoclonal antibody therapy, I saw that gentleman come alive\u2014so much so, that we actually ordered Chick-fil-A for him.\n\nThat is in his book; you can read it. I also have a brother who got COVID really, really bad. He went to Florida, and got monoclonal antibody therapeutic solutions, and recovered very well. I believe that, with the threats we face today, with the ability to identify through genome sequencing, and customize monoclonal antibody therapeutic solutions, we must be absolutely prepared with this technology. It must be ready to roll to be more prepared today than ever before.\u201d\n\nTUBERVILLE: \u201cThank you.\n\nUnder the previous administration, unless you took the vaccine, you could not have these [antibodies]. That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard. We killed millions of people who should not have been killed because of that decision. We are [too] worried about vaccines. Yeah, we got great vaccines. Let\u2019s give them to people if they want them. If people do not want to take them, then to heck with it. That is our right. This is a free country. That is the reason we do not have trust in this country. So, Mr. Kaufman, how are you going to get trust back in our country through your position? Because in my state of Alabama, they don\u2019t trust public health. They don\u2019t trust the federal government, and I don\u2019t blame them. They surely don\u2019t trust the public-health system in our country.\u201d\n\nKAUFMAN: \u201cThank you, Senator, for that question.\n\nAs a private businessman, one thing I always did to evaluate whether we did a great job or not is we would ask our clients upon finishing the work, \u2018Are we trusted more than we were before?\u2019 I think the indicators today show that, during COVID, we did not necessarily have, maybe, the best showing in public health. I appreciate the question because it gives me a chance to address something as well. Earlier, I was asked by a senator, \u2018Are the mRNA vaccines safe and effective?\u2019 Absolutely. But you know what\u2014I am [going] to put an asterisk because, and this is important\u2014many, many, many millions, millions and millions of people around the world took those vaccines and did not suffer. But I cannot sit here and forget those who did. With any medical intervention, there will always be adverse events. It is insensitive\u2014and it erodes trust\u2014when we choose to write those people off or fail to acknowledge that they have legitimate issues. And though I believe vaccines are safe and effective, I think it is important, if I am going to serve the American population, that all of those individuals are recognized, treated with compassion, and acknowledged.\u201d\n\nTUBERVILLE: \u201cYeah.\n\nDr. Schwartz, I just got a minute here, but I\u2019d love to hear this, Secretary Kennedy and I share the same desire about nutrition. I think it\u2019s more and more important every day [to talk] about nutrition, because what we eat is killing us. Absolutely killing\n\nus. What role are you going to play in the CDC helping us have good food that is safe for us and safe for our kids? What is your role going to be?\u201d\n\nSCHWARTZ: \u201cCoach, if I can call you that\u2014\u201d\n\nTUBERVILLE: \u201cPlease.\u201d\n\nSCHWARTZ: \u201cThank you for meeting with me earlier. I am all in on the Make America Healthy Again agenda. When I look at what the Secretary and [the President] have already done, they have introduced nutrition education into medical schools. I will not tell you when I graduated from medical school, but I can tell you that we did not have nutrition education in medical schools at the time when I was in medical school.\n\nThe Secretary is also introducing physical-fitness testing. In my generation, we did physical-fitness testing; this generation did not. He is removing those petroleum-based dyes, food dyes from food products. I am fully committed, if I am confirmed as CDC Director to continuing focusing on the Make America Healthy again. Because we are looking at those things that are happening that can prevent disease, and that is exactly what I have done my entire life as an occupational-medicine physician. I am all about looking at those upstream effects, looking at those things that can prevent diseases and continuing to Make America Healthy again.\u201d\n\nTUBERVILLE: \u201cWell, thank you. Work on nutrition, work on physical fitness, work on exercise. [Points to cell phone] This damn thing right here is killing our kids and killing everybody in this country because they are sitting around looking at it all day long. If we do not do something about it, it is going to be our fault\u2014not our kids\u2019 fault.\n\nThank you.\u201d\n\nSenator Tommy Tuberville represents Alabama in the United States Senate and is a member of the Senate Armed Services, Agriculture, Veterans\u2019 Affairs, HELP and Aging Committees.\n\n###", 1, "2026-07-17T07:15:58Z", "2026-07-17T07:17:05Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.tuberville.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/tuberville-speaks-at-confirmation-hearing-for-cdc-director-hhs-nominee/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7095332257449627, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}