{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.warnock.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/icymi-warnock-calls-on-president-trump-to-fire-secretary-kennedy-following-turmoil-at-cdc/", "ICYMI: Warnock Calls on President Trump to Fire Secretary Kennedy Following Turmoil at CDC", "2025-09-05", "2025", "2025-09", "Democrat", "Senate", "GA", "Raphael G. Warnock", "W000790", "www.warnock.senate.gov", "warnock", "https://www.warnock.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/", "scraper", "In Thursday\u2019s Senate Finance Committee hearing, Senator Reverend Warnock grilled Health and Human Services Secretary Kennedy on his incompetent leadership overseeing the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)\n\nSecretary Kennedy\u2019s incompetence has impacted chronic disease and cancer research, harmed efforts to protect servicemember\u2019s health, and jeopardized America\u2019s public health infrastructure to respond to infectious diseases\n\nThe hearing follows last month\u2019s shooting at the CDC that claimed the life of a DeKalb County police officer and turmoil over firings and resignations of top CDC leadership\n\nSenator Warnock to Secretary Kennedy: \u201cYou are a hazard to the health of the American people. I think that you ought to resign. And if you do not resign, the President of the United States, who put forward Operation Warp Speed, which worked, should fire you\u201d\n\nAbove: Senator Warnock questioning Secretary Kennedy in a Senate Finance Committee hearing\n\nWatch the exchange HERE\n\nWashington, D.C. \u2013 Yesterday, U.S. Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA) called on President Trump to fire Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for his gross mismanagement of the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The Senate Finance Committee hearing follows last month\u2019s shooting at the CDC that claimed the life of a DeKalb County police officer and turmoil over firings and resignations of top CDC leadership. Secretary Kennedy\u2019s incompetence has impacted chronic disease and cancer research, harmed efforts to protect servicemember\u2019s health, and jeopardized America\u2019s public health infrastructure to respond to infectious diseases.\n\nDuring his line of questioning, Senator Warnock pressed Secretary Kennedy on his extremist beliefs that are dismantling the nation\u2019s public health infrastructure, leaving hundreds of Georgia public health workers without a job, and putting children at risk by spreading misinformation about vaccines.\n\nLast month, Senator Warnock reaffirmed his commitment to supporting Georgia\u2019s CDC employees following the shooting at the CDC that claimed the life of a DeKalb County police officer. Earlier this year, Senator Warnock voted against Secretary Kennedy to lead HHS, the agency that oversees the CDC, due to concerns over disturbing comments and long-held beliefs of Kennedy that would threaten health care costs, quality, and access for millions of Georgians and Americans. Since the CDC and its employees became a target of this administration, Senator Warnock has led several efforts defending their employment and the crucial role they play in keeping the nation safe.\n\nSee more stories about Senator Warnock\u2019s questioning of Secretary Kennedy below:\n\nNBC News: Sen. Warnock says Kennedy should resign or be fired\n\nSen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., told Kennedy, \u201cYou are a hazard to the health of the American people.\u201d\n\n\u201cI think that you ought to resign, and if you don\u2019t resign, the president of the United States, who put forward Operation Warp Speed, which worked, should fire you,\u201d he concluded.\n\nWABE: Warnock, Ossoff criticize Kennedy\u2019s COVID-19 policy, attacks on CDC\n\nGeorgia\u2019s two United States senators are among the Democrats in Congress demanding that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. resign from his post as head of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. At a three-hour hearing Thursday before the Senate Finance Committee, Sen. Raphael Warnock, other committee Democrats and some Republicans questioned Kennedy about his public health views and policies.\n\nKennedy defended his program cuts and thousands of staff cuts at federal health agencies, including the Atlanta-based U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.\n\n\u201cI want to fix the system, and that\u2019s what we\u2019re doing,\u201d Kennedy said.\n\nAfter the hearing, Warnock said Kennedy is undermining U.S. ability to safeguard public health and safety.\n\n\u201cFor him to say that the CDC is the most corrupt agency in the history of the world, to say that they don\u2019t care about children \u2013 those comments are certainly unhelpful at best and dangerous at worst,\u201d Warnock said.\n\n11Alive: Georgia Sen. Warnock, RFK Jr. verbally spar at Senate committee hearing: \u2018You oughta resign\u2019\n\nRobert F. Kennedy Jr., the Department of Health and Human Services secretary, faced sharply critical questioning Thursday from Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock during a Senate committee hearing.\n\nSen. Warnock\u2019s and HHS Sec. Kennedy\u2019s back-and-forth reached levels of open contempt, with the Georgia Democrat telling Sec. Kennedy he is a \u201chazard to the health of the American people.\u201d The two clashed over the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with Warnock questioning Kennedy whether he called it the \u201cmost corrupt federal agency in the world.\u201d\n\n\u201cNot the history of the world but definitely within HHS,\u201d Kennedy responded. \u201cI did not say that, but I did say it\u2019s the most corrupt agency in HHS and maybe the government.\u201d\n\nWarnock focused the bulk of his questions on Sec. Kennedy\u2019s reactions to the shooting last month at the Atlanta campus of the CDC, in which a gunman fired hundreds of rounds at CDC buildings and killed DeKalb County Officer David Rose.\n\nAJC: Warnock grills RFK Jr.: \u2018You ought to resign\u2019\n\nU.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock accused Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of undermining public health and putting the safety of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention employees at risk by his rhetoric and vaccine skepticism.\n\n\u201cYou are a hazard to the health of the American people,\u201d Warnock said as he questioned Kennedy. \u201cI think that you ought to resign. And if you don\u2019t resign, the president of the United States \u2014 who put forth Operation Warp Speed, which worked \u2014 should fire you.\u201d\n\nThe contrast between Kennedy\u2019s praise for Trump, whose Operation Warp Speed initiative helped fast track the development of COVID-19 vaccines, and his criticism of those same vaccines was a running theme during Thursday morning\u2019s Senate Finance Committee hearing.\n\nU.S. senators from both sides of the aisle said Kennedy had broken promises he made during his confirmation hearing to follow the science when it comes to vaccines. They said he had instead pushed out career scientists who challenged his point of view.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:10:29Z"]], "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.warnock.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/icymi-warnock-calls-on-president-trump-to-fire-secretary-kennedy-following-turmoil-at-cdc/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.7404258251190186, "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"}