Frank Pallone made the mistake of accusing RFK Jr. of pursuing an “anti-science” ideology during Tuesday’s House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health hearing.
The Health and Human Services Secretary didn’t take Pallone’s words lying down.
“Congressman Pallone, 15 years ago, you and I met. You were, at that time, a champion of people who had suffered injuries from vaccines. You were very adamant about it. You were the leading member of Congress on that issue,” replied Kennedy after briefly responding to another member’s comments.
“Since then, you’ve accepted $2 million from pharmaceutical companies in contributions, more than any other member of this committee,” RFK Jr. added. “And your enthusiasm for supporting the old [Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices], which was completely rife and pervasive with pharmaceutical conflicts, seems to be an outcome of those contributions.”
RFK Jr. calls out Sen. Frank Pallone for taking over $2 million from Pharmaceutical Companies. He then acts like he has no idea what he is talking about but I pulled the numbers. See below. pic.twitter.com/eomqaPZH3l
— Champagne Joshi (@JoshWalkos) June 24, 2025
RFK Jr. retracted his comments out of politeness after Diana DeGette of Colorado complained that Kennedy was “impugning Mr. Pallone.” Pallone made a bunch of faces, pretending to be wounded and confused.
But RFK wasn’t wrong.
The website OpenSecrets reveals that Pallone has raked in $2.2 million from the pharmaceutical/health industry since first arriving in Washington back in 1988. He received $294,700 in donations from the pharmaceutical/health sector in just the 2024 cycle; that’s the fourth largest haul of any member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
