Tuberville Urges Senate to Move Swiftly on Confirming RFK Jr., Kash Patel, and Tulsi Gabbard

January 30, 2025 - WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) spoke on the Senate floor about the need to quickly confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Kash Patel, and Tulsi Gabbard to key roles in President Trump's cabinet. Sen. Tuberville defended each nominees' qualifications and their commitments to making America healthy, more just, and secure again. During the speech, Sen. Tuberville denounced the baseless attacks aimed at these nominees by the media and career politicians as nothing but dishonest attempts to tank President Trump's nominations.

The remarks of Senator Tommy Tuberville are below:

"Mr. President,

I'd like to start by thanking Leader Thune for President Trump's cabinet nominees so far. President Trump is on the verge of having his full team. We've confirmed Pete Hegseth, Kristi Noem, Scott Bessent and many others who are doing an outstanding job implementing President Trump's America First agenda, but there are more critical nominees that President Trump still needs to confirm. This includes Robert Kennedy, Kash Patel, and Tulsi Gabbard, along with a few others.

I've gotten the chance to meet with each of these nominees. I've been very impressed. They are all outstanding choices and should be confirmed to President Trump's cabinet as soon as possible.

First, I'd like to express my complete and total support for Robert F. Kennedy's nomination to be the next Secretary of Health and Human Services. You know, last November, we saw millions of Americans, especially young Americans, flock to the MAGA movement after Bobby Kennedy endorsed President Trump.

Both my sons, 28 and 30, Tucker and Troy, were huge fans of RFK and I know there're just millions of young people who RFK [has] brought to the table and into the fold, opening our eyes towards something they had never really been involved in, and that's the health of their generation and all generations across the country.

As we know, Bobby started [the] Make America Healthy Again movement, known as MAHA, which eventually joined forces with President Trump. MAHA isn't just a political slogan. It's not just a political slogan. It's a movement. That has swept our Nation. For the first time, important issues like the effectiveness of vaccines, the dangers of prescription medicines, and the chemicals in our food and household products are part of our national political [discourse], as it should be. And it's all because of the work of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

You know, before entering the arena, Bobby spent four decades, environmental law, and in healthcare policies, specializing in issues like water pollution, vaccines, and food safety. Four decades. He is an accomplished attorney who attended Harvard, the London School of Economics, and the University of Virginia. And he's authored multiple best-selling books that I would suggest anybody, that's concerned about the health of our country, should read.

Throughout his career, he has committed to discovering the truth about what is causing the chronic disease epidemic in America today. And his presidential campaign exposed the fact that we have a serious, a very serious public health crisis facing our country today and in the future.

For example, in his hearing yesterday, Bobby Kennedy laid out that over seventy percent of adults and one third of our children are overweight or obese. The rate of diabetes is ten times more prevalent today than it was in 1960. Cancer among our young people is rising by one or two percent every year. Auto immune diseases, neurodevelopmental disorders, and addiction cases are hugely on the rise. Depression and anxiety rates are absolutely through the roof. Meanwhile, more Americans are reliant on pharmaceutical drugs than ever before.

I saw that in my formal life of being a coach of players years ago, very few on any kind of drug such as Adderall or Ritalin for attention deficit. But the last few years, it was a huge uptick in prescription drugs and many, many young people across the country. These findings are alarming, and they should, and they had better shock, all of us.

Thank God, Bobby has dedicated his life to getting to the bottom of what's causing these trends. As he did in his hearing yesterday, Bobby is an expert on the health issues facing our country and has the facts, the data, and the evidence to prove it. And he will bring his commitment to evidence-based science, transparency to our national health agencies. And it's simple: Americans want access to all the facts so they can decide what's best for themselves and for their families. Bobby is committed to giving Americans the information that they need to be informed and make informed decisions.

Recently, I've seen the mainstream media, and some politicians attempt to smear Bobby Kennedy as anti-vax, anti-industry, or an enemy of food producers. All of this couldn't be further from the truth. It's just a political attack. We've even heard from prominent Republicans like former -Vice President Mike Pence who is running ads on TV criticizing Bobby Kennedy for not being sufficiently pro-life.

Bobby addressed this himself yesterday. He believes every abortion is a tragedy, and he will work with President Trump to implement his pro-life policies. These attacks are nothing more than dishonest attempts by the DC establishment to tank his nomination. We've seen that in the last couple of weeks on all nominees.

Sure. Bobby Kennedy may not be the typical pick for the job, but the American people don't want a typical pick. The one we picked four years ago for President Biden was a lawyer, lived in California, and very seldom came to Washington D.C., worked from home. We got nothing done in health and human services.

They gave us a mandate in November, 77 million people, to deliver Trump, President Trump's agenda. And that includes Making America Healthy Again. As far as I'm concerned, Bobby is not part of being the healthcare establishment class. That's a really good thing. We don't need that. Look where it's got us. The pharmaceutical industry and industrial food complex won't be running the show anymore when Bobby Kennedy is confirmed. Instead, he will restore our health agencies to the gold standard of [scientific] research and explore [holistic] healthcare alternatives as part of our efforts to end chronic disease epidemics across this country.

Ultimately, this will lower cost for Americans and ease the burden on our entire healthcare system, which is being overrun by all of the conditions that we have popping up today. With the many public health crisis we're facing as a country, we have no time to waste. Hope my colleagues will join me in supporting Bobby for HHS Secretary and help President Trump Make America Healthy Again.

Our next nominee, I'd like to turn to Kash Patel.

He is on the Hill today going through his confirmation hearings. Kash is President Trump's pick to be the FBI Director, who testified in front of the Senate all morning long. Kash is an excellent choice, and he has my full support.

It's clear to the American people that the culture at the top of our top police agency in this country, the FBI, is rotten. It's rotten to the core. We have some good people. But the people in charge have made devastating decisions against a lot of people across this country. It is far past time to clean house at the FBI.

Over the last four years, we've seen the Bureau become politicized and weaponized. The Biden administration turned the FBI into the 'fake bureau of investigation.' The scales of justice were never fair and balanced under the last administration. Christopher Ray, the director, went after parents at school boards [and] pro-lifers. He went after Catholics. He went after grandmas who peacefully protested right outside this building on January the sixth. He went to their homes and arrested them. Not to mention the unprecedented raid on President Trump's home in Mar-a-Lago, Florida.

What we've seen unfold at our nation's premiere law enforcement agency over the last four years is a complete and absolute disgrace to the American people and to our Constitution.

Not only has the public's trust in [the] FBI been completely eroded, it's been a disservice to all the great men and women in the FBI, who commit every day to defending the Constitution and protecting us as American citizens. It's going to take a lot of hard work to right this ship. Trust has to be put back into the FBI. Kash Patel is the right man to do [the] job.

He's qualified and has an impressive resume. He served in several national security and intelligence roles, as [a] federal prosecutor, and as a public defender. Not only is Kash qualified, but he also has the courage and the resolve needed to restore our faith in the FBI. Despite the media's lies, Kash won't have his enemies list when he takes a job, unlike the Biden administration. If crimes are committed, he will open an investigation, follow facts wherever they lead. No bias, no partiality.

Kash will bring back truth and transparency, uphold the rule of law and the Constitution, and protect Americans against its enemies, foreign, and domestic. He will ensure that the government works for the American people and not the other way around.

Let's confirm Kash quickly and give President Trump an important component of his national security team. I look forward to supporting Kash Patel, and I hope my Republican colleagues will do the same.

Finally, we need to confirm Tulsi Gabbard to be our next Director of National Intelligence. Like Kash, Tulsi will play a critical role on President Trump's national security team.

She just had her hearing in front of the Senate Intel Committee this morning. Her hearing only further confirmed to me that Tulsi is the perfect candidate for the DNI role. She is a decorated lieutenant colonel, over twenty years of service in the military. Tulsi served in combat in the Iraq War and is currently active in [the reserves]. She has a top security clearance, having passed five background checks to receive it.

Tulsi served in Congress for eight years, where she sat on the Homeland Security, Armed Services, and Foreign Relations Committee. And as a member of Congress, she consistently participated in high-level intelligence briefings. [As] she has displayed throughout her entire career in the military and as an elected official, Tulsi will bring a fearless spirit to the DNI role.

I have to tell you my meeting with Tulsi is one of the most impressive meetings I've had since I've been in this office going on five years. [Her] knowledge and expertise is unmatched. I have no doubt she will keep our country secure while protecting the Constitution and the constitutional rights of all Americans. She will help us return to peace through strength and put an end to Americans costly foreign wars.

The attacks on her, questioning her loyalty to the United States are absolutely disgusting. It's insulting. Tulsi has devoted her entire life to serving this country, [in] the military, and in public service.

To the Senators criticizing Tulsi for not fitting the typical mold of a DNI director, [it] might just be a good thing. Have the last several years shown us that the status quo is working? No. I don't think so. And I don't think the American people think so either, and they're the ones that count.

Tulsi brings a fresh perspective to the job in the America that we all want and deserve. We do not need another James Clapper. Like the FBI, we've seen our intelligence community weaponized to target opponents of the regime. The IC conspired to take down President Trump in 2016 and 2020. And maybe most recently [in] the election a couple months ago.

For that reason, I think Tulsi is exactly the change agent we need leading our intelligence community. Like Bobby Kennedy, Tulsi switched her party affiliation because she saw the status quo as a threat to the American people and our constitutional rights. As Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi will check her politics at the door just like she's done the last twenty years serving in our military.

She will come to DNI without any bias. She will fix our broken intelligence community, and folks, it is broken. I look forward to confirming Tulsi to DNI.

I urge all my colleagues to join me in voting for Tulsi. She will play a major role in President Trump's team in restoring faith in our intelligence community.

Mr. President, I yield the floor."

Senator Tommy Tuberville represents Alabama in the United States Senate and is a member of the Senate Armed Services, Agriculture, Veterans' Affairs, HELP, and Aging Committees.

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