What happened
Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) Wednesday introduced articles of impeachment against Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., accusing him of “abuse of authority and undermining of the public health.” Stevens, who is running for Senate in a competitive primary, previously called on Kennedy to resign.
She has also filed the “Stop RFK’s BS Act,” which would “reverse funding cuts Kennedy has overseen,” said The Hill.
Who said what
Kennedy has “driven up health care costs” while “tearing down the scientific institutions” Americans rely on, Stevens said in a press release. With Republicans in control of Congress, The New York Times said, it would be “close to impossible” for her “all but certainly futile” impeachment bid to “get a vote on the House floor or lead to a trial in the Senate.”
Stevens is “part of a growing group of House Democrats effectively going rogue by mounting impeachment efforts without support from party leadership,” Axios said. HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon accused her of “partisan theatrics” intended to “elevate” her “standing in a failing, third-rate Senate bid.”
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What next?
Stevens said her effort was more than “political theater” and more substantive than the impeachment measures filed by Reps. Shri Thanedar (D-Mich.) and Al Green (D-Texas). But many Democrats expressed “frustration” at the move, Axios said. “You can’t swing a cat without hitting an impeachable offense in this administration,” said Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif), but “it’s just deeply distracting and unproductive to make that our priority in this moment.”
