HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. let Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) have it during a recent Senate hearing after Murray attempted to use a woman who has cancer as a way to virtue signal over Kennedy. 

It did not go well for Murray. 

As you can see in the video, Murray attempted to use a woman named Natalie Phelps, a mother of two with stage four cancer, who is currently having trouble getting into clinical trials to treat her cancer due to Kennedy's NIH budget cuts. 

"Because of the thoughtless mass-firing of thousands of critical employees across NIH and HHS that you carried out, Natalie's doctors at that clinical center have told her they have no choice but to delay her treatment by an additional four weeks," said Murray. 

Murray drove the point home by saying four weeks could be a life and death timeline, then asked Kennedy how many staff members have been cut to the number. 

Kennedy's response was nothing short of brilliant. He said he couldn't get the exact number of staffers that were fired, but if Murray contacts his office about Phelps directly, he can see about getting her into a trial a lot faster. Suddenly, the medical trial didn't matter much to Murray, and she said that what Phelps actually deserved was an answer to how many staffers had been cut. 

Fascinating, but even as Kennedy attempts to explain that his guidelines stipulate that no medical trials would be affected by the cuts, Murray interrupted him to tell him they were being impacted and reiterated that Phelps was waiting for treatment. Despite his best efforts, Kennedy could not finish anything he was saying as Murray continued to buckle down on virtue signaling instead of getting to the bottom of the issue. This caused Kennedy to get to the truth for her. 

"You don't care about Natalie," Kennedy said. "I've offered to help Natalie." 

As Kennedy later reveals, Phelps wasn't out of the trial due to cuts but because she was "medically ineligible for the trial she was denied."

But it doesn't end there. 

RFK Jr. and Murray seem to butt heads a lot, and Murray doesn't seem to be very good at winning these fights. 

During the back and forth, Kennedy dropped the bomb on Murray, stating that she's been overseeing the American healthcare system for decades from her position, and we're one of the sickest countries in the world. 

Murray came back at Kennedy in another hearing days later over the cuts, and Kennedy called her out in a big way, calling into question her years of "service" to the American people's health.

"You presided over the destruction of the health of the American people," said Kennedy. "Our people are now the sickest people in the world because you have not done your job."

Murray had nothing, only capable of coming back with "seriously?" 

Kennedy even got her on the lie she told about Phelps, and revealed he's willing to provide receipts about correspondence about the woman with Murray's office after she attempted to lie about Kennedy not getting back to her until just before that hearing. Once again, Murray looked foolish. 

HHS Secretary Kennedy (@SecKennedy): "You presided over the destruction of the health of the American people. Our people are now the sickest people in the world because you have not done your job.

Sen. @PattyMurray: "Mr. Secretary, seriously?!? Mr. Secretary, seriously?!?" pic.twitter.com/IDJWLCwQdp

— CSPAN (@cspan) May 20, 2025

It's a moment that proves that Kennedy is there to do the best job he can for the American people while Murray is just there to play politics. 

Editor's Note: This article was updated post-publication to reflect that Kennedy serves as HHS Secretary rather than head of NIH. We regret the error. 

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