WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who had polio as a child, says any of President-elect Donald Trump’s nominees seeking Senate confirmation should “steer clear” of efforts to discredit the polio vaccine.
“Efforts to undermine public confidence in proven cures are not just uninformed — they’re dangerous,” McConnell said in a statement Friday. “Anyone seeking the Senate’s consent to serve in the incoming Administration would do well to steer clear of even the appearance of association with such efforts.”
The 82-year-old lawmaker’s statement appeared to be directed at Trump’s pick for health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., after a report that one of his advisers filed a petition to revoke approval for the polio vaccine in 2022. That vaccine is widely considered to have halted the disease in most parts of the world.
McConnell's words were a sign that Kennedy, who has long advanced the debunked idea that vaccines cause autism, could face some resistance in the soon-to-be GOP-controlled Senate.
“Mr. Kennedy believes the Polio Vaccine should be available to the public and thoroughly and properly studied,” said Katie Miller, the transition spokeswoman for Kennedy, in response to questions.
The New York Times reported that the petition was filed by a lawyer now helping Kennedy select candidates for federal health positions in the incoming administration.
Any individual or company can file a petition with the Food and Drug Administration, which typically fields hundreds of requests at any time relating to various food, drug and medical issues. Most petitions are denied, but the FDA is required to respond to each one in writing.
Vaccines have been proven to be safe and effective in laboratory testing and in real-world use in hundreds of millions of people over decades — they are considered among the most effective public health measures in history.
McConnell contracted polio at 2 years old but survived because of “the miraculous combination of modern medicine and a mother’s love," according to the statement. He praised the “saving power” of the polio vaccine for the “millions who came after me.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a post on X that it was “outrageous and dangerous for people in the Trump Transition to try and get rid of the polio vaccine that has virtually eradicated polio in America and saved millions of lives.
He said Kennedy should clarify his own position on it.
Trump announced last month his selection of Kennedy, saying Kennedy would work to protect Americans “from harmful chemicals, pollutants, pesticides, pharmaceutical products, and food additives.”
But that pick was met with alarm from scientists and public health officials, who fear Kennedy would unwind lifesaving public health initiatives such as vaccines.
Kennedy has pushed other conspiracy theories regarding vaccines, such as that COVID-19 could have been “ethnically targeted” to spare Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people, comments he later said were taken out of context. He has repeatedly brought up the Holocaust when discussing vaccines and public health mandates.
Kennedy said he plans to remake the Department of Health and Human Services, an agency with sprawling reach and a $1.3 trillion budget, if he is approved. He has suggested the FDA is beholden to “big pharma,” and his anti-vaccine nonprofit has called on it to stop using COVID-19 vaccines.
During the COVID-19 epidemic, his nonprofit group, Children’s Health Defense, petitioned the FDA to halt the use of all COVID vaccines. The group has alleged that the FDA is beholden to “big pharma” because it receives much of its budget from industry fees and some employees who have departed the agency have gone on to work for drugmakers.
Children’s Health Defense currently has a lawsuit pending against a number of news organizations, among them The Associated Press, accusing them of violating antitrust laws by taking action to identify misinformation, including about COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccines. Kennedy took leave from the group when he announced his run for president but is listed as one of its attorneys in the lawsuit.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., left, wears a bandage on his face and wrist as he walks to cast a vote on the Senate floor after falling during a luncheon on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin Democratic Gov. Tony Evers used his seventh State of the State speech Wednesday to urge the Republican-controlled Legislature to enact a wide range of proposals they have rejected in the past, including numerous gun control measures just a month after there was a school shooting not far from the state Capitol.
Republicans were quick to dismiss his proposals, much as they have the past six years.
Here's what to know about the speech from Evers, a Democrat who may run for a third term next year in the battleground state:
Evers, without mentioning President Donald Trump by name, said “there is a lot of angst about what may happen in the days, months, and years ahead.”
“I have always been willing to work with anyone who is willing to do the right thing for the people of Wisconsin,” Evers said. “And that has not changed. But I will not compromise on our Wisconsin values of treating people with kindness, dignity, empathy, and respect.”
Evers called for bipartisan efforts to address immigration.
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said Republicans would introduce a bill next week that requires cooperation with federal law enforcement officials who are working to deport people who have committed a crime and are in the country illegally.
“He didn’t pay attention to what happened in this state in the election in November,” Assembly Majority Leader Tyler August said of Evers. “President Trump won Wisconsin and one of the cornerstones of his campaign was about illegal immigration. ... He’s clearly pushing back against the president."
Wisconsin is one of 22 states suing the federal government over Trump’s attempt to end birthright citizenship.
Wisconsin is one of the “blue wall” states that Trump won in 2016 but lost in 2020. Trump carried Wisconsin in 2024 on his way back to the White House.
Evers called for a series of gun control measures five weeks after school shooting just 6 miles (9.6 kilometers) from the Capitol that left a teacher and 14-year-old student dead. The 15-year-old shooter shot and killed herself.
Evers called for universal background checks for gun purchases and restoring a 48-hour waiting period for gun purchases, a law that Republicans repealed in 2015.
He also called for banning the purchase of “ghost guns” and closing a loophole that allows for domestic abusers to own firearms.
Evers also called for incentives and new requirements to safely secure firearms and a “red flag” law that would allow judges to take guns away from people determined to be a risk to themselves or others.
Republican legislative leaders said that all of the gun control measures would be rejected.
The governor last week created a state office for violence prevention, which Republicans vowed not to fund after federal funding runs out in two years.
Evers, a former teacher and state superintendent of schools, also called for spending $300 million to provide comprehensive mental health services in schools statewide. That would be 10 times the amount the Legislature approved for school mental health services in the last budget.
Republican leaders immediately rejected the bulk of what Evers called for, saying they instead would be pushing for a tax cut of nearly $1,000 for every taxpayer in the state.
Evers' speech “was chock full of liberal wishes, empty promises and a whole lot of things that are not going to happen in Wisconsin,” Vos said.
Declaring 2025 as “The Year of the Kid," Evers called on Republicans to approve $500 million to lower the cost of child care. The bulk of that would go toward funding the Child Care Counts program for the next two years. Without more funding, the program — which was created during the COVID-19 pandemic — is slated to end in June.
Republicans said they would not support that additional funding.
Evers also called for creating new programs designed to set price ceilings for prescription drugs and improve oversight of drug companies, removing the state sales tax on over-the-counter medications and capping the copay on insulin at $35.
In an emotional moment, Evers welcomed the widow and parents of former state Rep. Jonathan Brostoff, who died by suicide in November. Evers, his voice cracking with emotion, talked about Brostoff's death when introducing a new program that would allow people to temporarily and voluntarily register to prevent themselves from purchasing a firearm.
Vos said that invoking Brostoff was a “cheap political stunt” and “kind of sad.”
Legislators clap as Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers gives the annual State of the State address Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025, at the state Capitol in Madison, Wis. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos watches Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers give the annual State of the State address Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025, at the state Capitol in Madison, Wis. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers gives the annual State of the State address Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025, at the state Capitol in Madison, Wis. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers gives the annual State of the State address Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025, at the state Capitol in Madison, Wis. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers gives the annual State of the State address Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025, at the state Capitol in Madison, Wis. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers gives the annual State of the State address Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025, at the state Capitol in Madison, Wis. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers gives the annual State of the State address Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025, at the state Capitol in Madison, Wis. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers gives the annual State of the State address Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025, at the state Capitol in Madison, Wis. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers gives the annual State of the State address Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025, at the state Capitol in Madison, Wis. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers waves as he's introduced at the annual State of the State address Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025, at the state Capitol in Madison, Wis. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
