WATCH: Senator asks RFK Jr. to admit remarks on Black children

Sen. Angela Alsobrooks, D-Md., pressed Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Wednesday to admit he had said in a 2024 podcast interview that all Black children are now on psychological medications and that they should go to a farm without screens and be "re-parented."

"Let me read exactly what you said," Alsobrooks said in the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions hearing. "You said, 'Every black kid is now just standard put on Adderall, on SSRIs, benzos, which are known to induce violence, and those kids are going to have a chance to go somewhere and get reparented, to live in a community where there'll be no cellphones, no screens."

"I have no memory of saying anything like that," Kennedy responded during the hearing on President Donald Trump's 2027 budget request.

"Well, I actually have the recording that I can give to you, but it is absolutely what you said, and if you want me to play it, I can play it," the Maryland senator said.

The health secretary said the statement did not reflect his vision for the country, adding, "If I said it, I apologize, but I'd have to see the transcript."

In an earlier hearing, Kennedy faced questioning about his stance on vaccines, Trump’s drug website known as Trump Rx, as well as proposed cuts to Medicaid and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, a physician and influential chair of the Senate Health Committee, had opportunities in both hearings Wednesday to press Kennedy, whose approach to vaccines he’s criticized in the past.

Sign up for Here's The Deal with Lisa Desjardins

Subscribe for exclusive content in our newsletters

PBS News podcasts

Stream your PBS favorites with the PBS app

Find more from PBS News at

Subscribe to our YouTube channel