Democrats on the Senate’s health committee said Thursday that they were angry but unsurprised about errors and nonexistent studies cited in the “Make America Healthy Again” Commission’s report.
“Making up ‘scientific studies’ to further prove your conspiracy theories is disqualifying. RFK must resign,” Sen. Angela Alsobrooks said in an email to NOTUS.
The inconsistencies in the report — first reported by NOTUS — reignited criticism about Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s commitment to scientific rigor. Democrats already concerned about Kennedy’s leadership of the agency said they were proven right.
“I voted against the HHS Secretary because he’s a known conspiracy theorist. I’m disappointed, but not surprised, that he’s continued to make things up, and am glad this reporting is exposing that,” Sen. Tim Kaine emailed NOTUS. “The health and well-being of the American people depend on health officials issuing guidance based on real science.”
NOTUS found dozens of errors in the citations of the MAHA report, including seven cited works that do not appear to exist. Multiple researchers said they were falsely linked to research or that their work was misconstrued.
Sen. Patty Murray, a HELP Committee member, told NOTUS that “using fake citations fully discredits this report.”
“He was never qualified to serve as our nation’s Health Secretary, but because Republicans chose to confirm him, we’re now all paying the price,” she said in an emailed statement. “The best any of us can do is continue to push back against the worst of his disinformation and fight to block his attacks on research and health care.”
The administration has downplayed the findings. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at a Thursday press briefing that the report’s bibliographic errors resulted from “formatting issues.” HHS spokesperson Emily Hilliard said in an email that “minor citation and formatting errors have been corrected, but the substance of the MAHA report remains the same.”
More on the MAHA Report
• The MAHA Report Has Been Updated With Fresh Errors
• The MAHA Report Cites a Paper Criticized as ‘Junk Science’ on Pesticides
• The MAHA Report Has Been Updated to Replace Citations That Didn’t Exist
• The White House Blames ‘Formatting Issues’ for the MAHA Report’s Citation Problems
“Under President Trump and Secretary Kennedy, our federal government is no longer ignoring this crisis, and it’s time for the media to also focus on what matters,” she said.
The White House released a new version of the MAHA report later Thursday, which had removed a few of the problematic (and in some cases, nonexistent) citations that NOTUS’ story had flagged.
Kennedy was confirmed as health secretary in spite of opposition from every Democratic senator and one Republican — Sen. Mitch McConnell, a childhood polio survivor.
Democrats called out their Republican colleagues on Thursday for voting to confirm Kennedy.
“RFK Jr. not knowing how to cite research and just making shit up as he goes is… not that surprising,” Sen. Tina Smith posted on Thursday. “Mind boggling that four Republicans couldn’t grow a spine and block this guy. Now look where we are.”
Sen. Chris Murphy called the entire issue “heartbreaking.”
“Sure it’s not surprising. But it’s heartbreaking that this is our reality,” Murphy wrote.
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Emily Kennard is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.