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Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

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Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Image of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Independent

U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services
Tenure

2025 - Present

Term ends

2029

Years in position

0

Predecessor
Elections and appointments
Last convention

November 5, 2024

Contact

Official website

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Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in President Donald Trump's (R) second presidential term. Trump nominated Kennedy on November 14, 2024. The Senate voted 52-48 to confirm Kennedy on February 13, 2025.[1]

Kennedy was born on January 17, 1954, son of former U.S. Attorney General and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy (D-N.Y.), and nephew of President John F. Kennedy (D).[2]

Kennedy earned a bachelor's degree in American history and literature from Harvard University in 1976 and a law degree from the University of Virginia in 1981.[2] He was an assistant district attorney in Manhattan from March 1982 until July 1983.[3] In 1984, Kennedy pleaded guilty to drug possession and was sentenced to probation and community service.[4] As part of his community service, Kennedy volunteered for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the Hudson River Fishermen's Association, which was renamed Riverkeeper in 1986.[3]

He later became the chief prosecuting attorney at Riverkeeper and senior attorney for the NRDC. He earned a master's degree in environmental law from Pace University Law School in 1987, where he was faculty until 2018.[2][5] While there, he founded and co-directed the Pace University Environmental Litigation Clinic.[5]

In 1999, he founded the Waterkeeper Alliance, which said it was "a global movement united for clean, healthy, and abundant water for all people and the planet."[6] He founded Children's Health Defense (then called World Mercury Project) in 2007, which said its vision was "a world free of childhood chronic health conditions caused by environmental exposures."[7]

Kennedy authored several books, including two New York Times bestsellers—"Crimes Against Nature" in 2005 and "The Real Anthony Fauci" in 2021. Kennedy wrote in the 2021 book that Fauci helped "orchestrate and execute 2020's historic coup d'etat against Western democracy" during the COVID-19 pandemic.[8]

In a 2023 interview with Fox News about the book and Kennedy's other views on public health, Kennedy said, "I do believe that autism does come from vaccines but I think most of the things people believe about my opinions about vaccines are wrong. You know, all I have said about vaccines we should have good science. We should have the same kind of testing, placebo-controlled trials that we have for every other kind of medication."[9]

Kennedy ran in the 2024 presidential election, originally for the Democratic Party's nomination. He declared his candidacy on April 5, 2023.[10] In October 2023, Kennedy decided to run as an independent.[11] In the speech where Kennedy announced his independent candidacy, he said he would, "pursue a foreign policy that puts peace and diplomacy first, [...] close the loopholes and giveaways that blow our budget, [...] rescue debtors instead of the banks during the next financial crisis, [...] clean up our soil, our water, our air, and protect our purple mountain Majesties, [...] unravel the corporate capture of our regulatory agencies, [... and] enact bold policies that are outside of the partisan conversation."[12]

He withdrew from the presidential election on August 23, 2024, and endorsed Trump.[13] Click here to read more about his campaign.

Nominating Kennedy for secretary, Trump said in a statement, "Mr. Kennedy will restore these Agencies to the traditions of Gold Standard Scientific Research, and beacons of Transparency, to end the Chronic Disease epidemic, and to Make America Great and Healthy Again!"[14]

Biography

Kennedy was born in Washington, D.C. in 1954. He is the son of former U.S. Attorney General and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy (D-N.Y.) and Ethel Kennedy.[15] Kennedy received a bachelor's degree in American history and literature from Harvard University, a law degree from the University of Virginia, and a master's degree in environmental law from Pace University.[15]

He began his career in 1982 as an assistant district attorney in the Manhattan District Attorney's Office.[16] Following an arrest for drug possession in 1983, Kennedy volunteered for the Natural Resources Defense Council.[17] He also volunteered for Riverkeeper, a nonprofit seeking to preserve the Hudson River, and became the organization's chief attorney in 1985.[15]

Kennedy went on to found the Pace University Environmental Litigation Clinic in 1987. He worked as the clinic's supervising attorney, co-director, and as a law professor at Pace University from 1986 to 2018. He founded the Waterkeeper Alliance, a group seeking to "strengthen and grow a global network of grassroots leaders protecting everyone’s right to clean water," in 1999, and served as its chairman and attorney until 2017.[18]

In 2016, Kennedy founded Children's Health Defense, a nonprofit seeking to "end childhood health epidemics by working aggressively to eliminate harmful exposures, hold those responsible accountable and establish safeguards to prevent future harm." The organization says it participates in lawsuits to "assist with handling mandatory vaccination in schools, the workplace, and in travel -- as well as your right to informed consent."[19]

Nomination for secretary of health and human services

See also: Donald Trump presidential transition, 2024-2025 and Confirmation process for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for secretary of health and human services
Donald Trump's Cabinet
(second term)
Candidate: Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Position: Secretary of Health and Human Services
ApprovedaAnnounced:November 14, 2024
ApprovedaHearing:January 30, 2025 / January 29, 2025
ApprovedaCommittee:Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
/ Finance
ApprovedaReported:N/A / Favorable (14-13)
ApprovedaConfirmed:February 13, 2025
ApprovedaVote:52-48

Donald Trump (R) announced on November 14, 2024, that he had selected Kennedy as his nominee for secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in his second presidential term. This position requires Senate confirmation. In a statement, Trump said, "For too long, Americans have been crushed by the industrial food complex and drug companies who have engaged in deception, misinformation, and disinformation when it comes to Public Health. The Safety and Health of all Americans is the most important role of any Administration, and HHS will play a big role in helping ensure that everybody will be protected from harmful chemicals, pollutants, pesticides, pharmaceutical products, and food additives that have contributed to the overwhelming Health Crisis in this Country. Mr. Kennedy will restore these Agencies to the traditions of Gold Standard Scientific Research, and beacons of Transparency, to end the Chronic Disease epidemic, and to Make America Great and Healthy Again!"[20]

The Senate Finance Committee held a hearing for Kennedy on January 29, 2025, and the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee held a hearing for Kennedy on January 30, 2025. The Senate voted 52-48 to confirm Kennedy on February 13, 2025.[21] Click here to read more about the confirmation process.

Summary of Senate vote on Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s nomination for secretary of health and human services (February 13, 2025)
Party Votes for Votes against Not voting
Democratic Party Democrats 0 45 0
Republican Party Republicans 52 1 0
Grey.png Independents 0 2 0
Totals 52 48 0



Elections

2024

Kennedy announced his candidacy for the 2024 presidential election on April 5, 2023. Kennedy withdrew from the Democratic primary on Oct. 9, 2023, and announced he would run as an independent. Kennedy withdrew from the presidential race on August 23, 2024. Kennedy said he would remove his name from the ballot in battleground states, but keep his name on other ballots.[22]

Kennedy was nominated as a candidate for the Libertarian Party presidential nomination at the Libertarian National Convention on May 26, 2024. He was eliminated in the first round of voting, after receiving 2.1% of the vote.

Kennedy selected patent lawyer and entrepreneur Nicole Shanahan (I) as his running mate on March 26, 2024.[23]

The table below displays states where Kennedy appeared on the ballot.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (Nonpartisan) presidential ballot access by state Election results are subject to change until each state certifies its results.
StateStatus% of vote received
AlabamaLost
 
0.5%
 
AlaskaLost
 
1.6%
 
ArizonaWithdrew
 
0%
 
ArkansasLost
 
1.1%
 
CaliforniaLost
 
1.2%
 
ColoradoLost
 
1.1%
 
ConnecticutLost
 
0.4%
 
DelawareLost
 
0.9%
 
District of ColumbiaLost
 
0.8%
 
FloridaDisqualified
 
0%
 
IdahoLost
 
1.4%
 
IllinoisLost
 
1.4%
 
IndianaLost
 
0.9%
 
IowaLost
 
0.7%
 
KansasLost
 
1.2%
 
KentuckyLost
 
0.8%
 
LouisianaLost
 
0.3%
 
MaineWithdrew
 
0%
 
MarylandLost
 
0.9%
 
MichiganLost
 
0.4%
 
MinnesotaLost
 
0.7%
 
MississippiLost
 
0.4%
 
MissouriWithdrew
 
0%
 
MontanaLost
 
1.9%
 
NebraskaWithdrew
 
0%
 
New JerseyLost
 
0.5%
 
New MexicoLost
 
1%
 
New YorkDisqualified
 
0%
 
North CarolinaWithdrew
 
0%
 
OhioWithdrew
 
0%
 
OklahomaLost
 
1%
 
OregonLost
 
1.5%
 
PennsylvaniaWithdrew
 
0%
 
Rhode IslandLost
 
0.9%
 
South CarolinaWithdrew
 
0%
 
South DakotaLost
 
1.6%
 
TennesseeLost
 
0.7%
 
TexasWithdrew
 
0%
 
UtahWithdrew
 
0%
 
VermontLost
 
1.6%
 
WashingtonLost
 
1.4%
 
West VirginiaLost
 
1.1%
 
WisconsinLost
 
0.5%
 

Click the links below to read more about the 2024 presidential election:

Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.

Campaign website

See also: Presidential candidates on the issues, 2024

Policies from Kennedy's campaign website as of August 7, 2024, are excerpted below.

“

It’s “We The People” Not “We The Corporations”
As president, one of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s top priorities will be to dissolve the corrupt merger of state and corporate power. That means freeing government agencies from the control of big corporations.

Our food is unhealthy because Big Ag controls the Department of Agriculture. We have endless wars because military contractors control the Department of Defense, State Department, and intelligence agencies. The middle class is being decimated because Wall Street controls the Federal Reserve, Treasury, and SEC.

Our environment is a toxic mess because big polluters and extractive industries control the EPA. Healthcare costs and chronic disease run rampant because Big Pharma controls the CDC, FDA, and NIH.

Only an independent President beholden to neither major party can free our government from corporate capture. President Trump promised to drain the swamp, but he appointed corporate lobbyists and other “swamp creatures” like Scott Gottlieb and John Bolton to key posts. And President Biden has been wallowing in the corporate-controlled Washington swamp for 50 years.

RFK Jr. has the experience to reclaim our government for the American people. For 40 years, he has sued countless government agencies. He knows all the tricks that corrupt officials use to advance the corporate agenda.

As President, Kennedy will:

  • Install honest, competent leadership throughout the federal bureaucracy, agency by agency
  • Root out corruption and replace corporate-friendly agency leaders with reformers and whistleblowers dedicated to the national interest.
  • Shut the revolving door by executive order with a five year ban on administration officials lobbying their former government agency.
  • Make the agencies transparent to public view, so that the American people can once again have faith that their government works for them — not big corporations.

People Who Work Hard Should Be Able to Afford a Good Life.

That is the guiding principle of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s economic policies.

It’s hard to believe that once upon a time, a blue-collar worker with a high school education could support a family, take vacations, and even save for retirement. Technology has made our productivity many times higher — so why is life poorer, not richer, than in the 1960s? Why do people just accept that life will get slowly worse?

Kennedy does not accept it. We can restore the American middle class by reversing the missteps of the last 50 years. A massive military machine has nearly bankrupted this country. Rampant corruption in Washington has put corporations in charge, enriching the wealthiest as working people have dropped out of the middle class. Official unemployment is low — but most of the new jobs are in the low-pay service sector. Wealth inequality in the country is at a 100-year high. More than 60% of Americans live paycheck-to-paycheck, with no savings for an emergency. Take-home pay after inflation and taxes has fallen 9% since Biden took office.

Under the Biden administration, the price of an average home has risen from $250,000 to around $400,000, and mortgage rates have more than doubled. Rents have followed the trend, putting more and more people on the edge of catastrophe.

But we can turn it around. Being able to afford a decent life doesn’t mean working more hours. It means higher pay and lower bills.

Here is what Kennedy will do to make that a reality:

  • Raise the minimum wage to $15, which is the equivalent to its 1967 level.
  • Prosecute union-busting corporations so that labor can organize and negotiate fair wages.
  • Expand free childcare to millions of families with programs like that pioneered by the state of New Mexico.
  • Drop housing costs by $1000 per family and make home ownership affordable by backing 3% home mortgages with tax-free bonds.
  • Cut energy prices by restricting natural gas exports.
  • Support small businesses by redirecting regulatory scrutiny onto large corporations.
  • Secure the border and bring illegal immigration to a halt, so that undocumented migrants won’t undercut wages.
  • Negotiate trade deals that prevent low-wage countries from competing with American workers in a “race to the bottom.”
  • Rein in military spending and use the resources to fund infrastructure, health care, higher education, child care, and domestic prosperity.
  • Reverse the chronic disease epidemic that is a $3.7 trillion drag on families and the American economy.
  • Clean out the corruption in Washington, D.C., which funnels so much of our nation’s wealth to giant corporations and billionaires.
  • Establish addiction healing centers on organic farms across the country.
  • Make student debt dischargeable in bankruptcy and cut interest rates on student loans to zero.
  • Cut drug costs by half to bring them in line with other nations.

People always ask, “How are we going to pay for all this?” The answer is simple. First is to end the military adventures and regime-change wars, like the one in Ukraine. The wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, and Libya already cost us over $8 trillion. That’s $90,000 per family of four. That’s enough to pay off all medical debt, all credit card debt, provide free childcare, feed every hungry child, repair our infrastructure, and make college tuition free — with money left over. That’s enough to make social security solvent for another 30 years.

Second is to end the corruption in Washington, the corporate giveaways, the boondoggles, the bailouts of the too-big-to-fail that leave the little guy at the mercy of the market. Corporations right now are sitting on $8 trillion in cash. Their contribution to tax revenues was 33% in the 1950s — it is 10% today. It’s high time they paid their fair share.

Other Presidents have tinkered on the edges, but Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. will make the deep changes necessary to put the economy on a sound footing. The broad prosperity of the Eisenhower and JFK era can be ours again. It is just a shift of priorities away.

Homeownership and the American Dream

The dream of home ownership is slipping away for many Americans with high mortgage rates, rising prices, and stagnant income. To make matters worse, venture capital firms and hedge funds are buying up single-family homes by the millions. As home ownership costs rise beyond reach, rents follow them into the stratosphere.

Consider these statistics:

  • American homeownership is declining at the highest rate since the great depression.
  • We lost more than 1 million homeowners in 2021 — more than in the housing crash of 2008 — and then another million in 2022.
  • The median home price has risen from $250,000 in 2019 to $400,000 in 2023.
  • Mortgage interest rates have more than doubled since President Biden took office.
  • This rise in interest rates combined with skyrocketing housing prices has pushed the average monthly payment for someone buying a home from $1,050 in 2019 to over $2,600 per month.
  • At the same time, take-home pay after inflation and taxes has fallen by 9%.
  • At the current pace, by 2030 60% of single-family homes will be owned by corporations.

What this means is that home ownership is now out of reach for all but the top income bracket. Younger Americans in particular barely dream of ever owning a home. They face a future at the mercy of faceless corporate landlords who will raise rent to the highest level the market will bear.

None of this is inevitable, though. As President, RFK Jr. will enact a series of policies to put home ownership back within the reach of working families. Here’s how:

  • Tax-free 3% government-backed mortgage bonds, to bring the mortgage interest rate back to 2019 levels and even lower. It’s like having a rich uncle — Uncle Sam — who is willing to cosign your mortgage. Because the financing will come from investors, the cost to taxpayers will be minimal. This measure alone will reduce monthly costs for the average home purchase by $1,000.
  • Bring derelict land and buildings back online. Many cities have thousands of vacant lots and buildings that have been seized for tax arrears or other reasons. The Kennedy administration will incentivize local governments to bring city-owned land and buildings back onto the market.
  • Zoning changes. We will encourage municipalities to change zoning laws to allow ancillary dwelling units (granny flats) on more properties, to make housing available, bring families together, and provide homeowners with rental income. More supply means lower prices.
  • Tax code changes. Small changes to the tax code can make corporate investments in single-family homes uneconomic. For example, we can change business depreciation rules and reform the “enterprise zones” that have contributed so much to gentrification.

Together, these changes will restore home ownership to tens of millions of Americans, and lower costs for tens of millions more. We will get large corporations out of the single-family home business.

End the Forever Wars

In the long term, a nation’s strength does not come from its armies. America spends as much on weaponry as the next nine nations combined, yet the country has grown weaker, not stronger, over the last 30 years. Even as its military technology has reigned supreme, America has been hollowing out from the inside. We cannot be a strong or secure nation when our infrastructure, industry, society, and economy are infirm.

A high priority of a Kennedy administration will be to make America strong again. When a body is sick, it withdraws its energy from the extremities in order to nourish the vital organs. It is time to end the imperial project and attend to all that has been neglected: the crumbling cities, the antiquated railways, the failing water systems, the decaying infrastructure, the ailing economy. Annual defense-related spending is close to one trillion dollars. We maintain 800 military bases around the world. The peace dividend that was supposed to come after the Berlin Wall fell was never redeemed. Now we have another chance.

As President, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. will start the process of unwinding empire. We will bring the troops home. We will stop racking up unpayable debt to fight one war after another. The military will return to its proper role of defending our country. We will end the proxy wars, bombing campaigns, covert operations, coups, paramilitaries, and everything else that has become so normal most people don’t know it’s happening. But it is happening, a constant drain on our strength. It’s time to come home and restore this country.

In Ukraine, the most important priority is to end the suffering of the Ukrainian people, victims of a brutal Russian invasion, and also victims of American geopolitical machinations going back at least to 2014. We must first get clear: Is our mission to help the brave Ukrainians defend their sovereignty? Or is it to use Ukraine as a pawn to weaken Russia? Kennedy will choose the first. He will find a diplomatic solution that brings peace to Ukraine and brings our resources back where they belong. We will offer to withdraw our troops and nuclear-capable missiles from Russia's borders. Russia will withdraw its troops from Ukraine and guarantee its freedom and independence. UN peacekeepers will guarantee peace to the Russian-speaking eastern regions. We will put an end to this war. We will put an end to the suffering of the Ukrainian people. That will be the start of a broader program of demilitarization of all countries.

We have to stop seeing the world in terms of enemies and adversaries. As John Quincy Adams wrote, “Americans go not abroad in search of monsters to destroy.” Kennedy will revive a lost thread of American foreign policy thinking, the one championed by his uncle, John F. Kennedy who, over his 1000 days in office, had become a firm anti-imperialist. He wanted to exit Vietnam. He defied the Joint Chiefs of Staff and refused to bomb Cuba, thus saving us from nuclear Armageddon. He wanted to reverse the imperialistic policies of Truman and Eisenhower, rein in the CIA, and support freedom movements around the world. He wanted to revive Roosevelt’s impulse to dissolve the British empire rather than take it over.

John F. Kennedy’s vision was tragically cut short by an assassin’s bullet. But now we have another chance. The country is ailing, yes, but underneath there is vitality still. America is a land rich in resources, creativity, and intelligence. We just need to get serious about healing our society, to become strong again from the inside.

America was once an inspiration to the world, a beacon of freedom and democracy. Our priority will be nothing less than to restore our moral leadership. We will lead by example. When a warlike imperial nation disarms of its own accord, it sets a template for peace everywhere. It is not too late for us to voluntarily let go of empire and serve peace instead, as a strong and healthy nation.

The Humanitarian Crisis at Our Southern Border

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. sees the situation at the border primarily as a humanitarian crisis. It is a crisis that has spread far beyond the border, as a flood of migrants has overwhelmed the resources of cities as far away as New York. The suffering of the migrants at the hands of drug cartels, human traffickers, and exploitative employers is heartbreaking.

As President, Kennedy is going to end the humanitarian crisis, starting with its most immediate cause — an uncontrolled border. As he seals the border to illegal immigration, his administration will enact deeper reforms to stem illegal migration in the long term, while expanding lawful, orderly immigration according to principles of justice and fairness.

We must recognize that the foremost victims of a porous, chaotic border are the immigrants themselves. Compassion and decency demand that we do not allow the current situation to continue.

Overview

  • Ruthless criminal cartels have woven drugs, immigration, and human trafficking together into a multi-billion dollar business.
  • Biden administration policy has greatly exacerbated the situation. The border is out of control. Immigration is being administered by the cartels, not our government.
  • Just as a cell has a membrane, a country must have borders or it will disintegrate.
  • Our policy will be first, to get the border under control. Second, to work with other countries to stem the tide of migrants. Third, to fully fund and prioritize the administrative infrastructure for lawful, orderly immigration to this country.

A humanitarian, economic, and public security nightmare
The criminal cartels that now control immigration across the Mexican border exact a high price. Migrants are routinely robbed, raped, kidnapped, and sex trafficked. These horrors are happening systemically and at scale. The whereabouts of some 85,000 children who have been separated from their parents are unknown. In May, a “stash house” with 135 kidnapped migrants was liberated just across the border in San Luis. For everyone that is discovered, many more operate undetected. Our unregulated border is not compassionate. It is an open opportunity for the worst kinds of organized crime.

The Mexican cartels controlling immigration are as ruthless in this business as they are in the drug business. Gang violence all along the border has spiked as the cartels vie for turf through assassination and torture. The Mexican state of Sonora recorded 1765 murders in 2022, and many unsolved disappearances. The Mexican government’s official tally of disappearances now approaches 100,000.

This civil disorder is encroaching into the US, as destitute migrants flood American cities, sleeping on sidewalks and overwhelming humanitarian resources. Here too they are easy prey for criminals.

Fentanyl and methamphetamine are flooding into the country across the border along with the migrants. That is part of the cartels' integrated business model.

Because migrants have no documentation, they have no bargaining power or recourse when employers take advantage of them. They work for $5 or $6 an hour. They exist as the permanent bottom layer of a shadow economy from which it is almost impossible to escape. A pool of cheap, exploitable labor lowers the floor for all labor, putting downward pressure on wages and harming the American working class.

As a young man, RFK Jr. had the honor to work with Cesar Chavez. He understood that farm laborers’ conditions would never improve when endless new busloads of undocumented immigrants were available to replace any workers who tried to bargain for better working conditions. He was no xenophobe. Immigration is good for this country. It is unlawful, disorderly illegal immigration that harms migrants and undercuts American workers.

In the long term, perhaps the most pernicious effect of the current border chaos is that a criminal infrastructure of well-financed, institutionalized cartels is taking hold, corrupting government officials and insinuating itself into society. Just as Prohibition was a tremendous boon to organized crime, birthing the American mafia of legend, so also does the border situation provide a financial foundation for criminal organizations that could persist of decades.

Tough and Humanitarian Policy
The first step toward fixing this situation is to reassert control over our border. Today there is no control, no effective policy and, as a result, there is a humanitarian, security, and economic disaster. There are two ways people enter this country illegally. One way is by sneaking in. The other is by simply walking across at an entry point, claiming asylum, and disappearing. We have to address both. If we only shut down the asylum route, they will sneak across instead. If we only seal the border, they will overwhelm asylum processing resources. We must end both simultaneously. To accomplish this, the Kennedy administration will pursue the following policies.

  • Tighten border security to regain control over the border. We will use technology that was installed at the border then dismantled by the Biden administration, such as cameras, lights, and motion detectors, coupled with physical barriers in key areas (there is no need to build a wall across the entire 2,000-mile border). We have the technology to prevent people from getting through undetected. We can control the border. We have the technology. We can deploy the personnel. All we need is the will.

  • Get on top of asylum claims. We have to fully fund courts, services, and border agencies to allow lawful immigration in accordance with U.S. law and deny non-compliant access, and appoint more judges to handle asylum cases. There are woefully few asylum judges to process even the legitimate claims of political refugees. If claimants of political asylum knew their case would be heard swiftly, and that specious claims would be met with swift deportation, the cartels’ business model would fail.

There are 1.6 million immigrants living in the US while they await their asylum hearing. Fewer than 15% will be approved. We need to appoint hundreds more judges to deal with this backlog, and to ensure that newly arriving immigrants get a hearing before being admitted to the U.S.

This is a common-sense solution that can transcend partisan rancor. Democrats will support swift attention to asylum claims so that we meet our humanitarian obligations. Republicans will support an end to the flow of millions of unheard asylum claimants into the U.S. on their own recognizance.

Migrants will know that their case will be heard at the border and they will not be let through unless it is approved. Deciding to spend a lifetime of savings and risk injury, rape, and death to make this journey is the biggest decisions of most migrants' lives. They do not make that kind of a decision in a vacuum. We must give them forewarning that we are hiring hundreds more judges and they can no longer expect to be let into the country due to judicial delays.

We will work with the Mexican government to stem the flow of transit migration through Mexico. We have to cultivate a more positive relationship with Mexico and work closely with its people and government who desperately want to be free of the plague of cartel violence.

Together, these three policies will end the business model of the cartels. When we also expand legal immigration, migrants will rationally choose the legal path instead of putting their families’ lives at the mercy of criminals.

The Best Environmental President in American History

A Plan to Protect Our Environment from Corporate Corruption and Contamination

RFK Jr., named Time Magazine’s “Hero for the Planet,” will be the greatest environmental president in American history. In 40 years as an environmental attorney, Kennedy fought and won lawsuits against hundreds of corporations and government agencies. He sued Mobil Oil to reverse its pollution of the Hudson River, making it safe to swim and fish again. He sued DuPont, Mitsubishi, and Ford, to force them to clean up chemical spills. He sued Monsanto on behalf of farm workers and families who developed cancer from toxic pesticides.

The organization Kennedy founded, Waterkeeper Alliance, is now the largest clean water organization in the world, protecting 2.7 million miles of waterways in 47 countries. Throughout his career, Kennedy has stood among the leadership of the environmental movement crafting sensible, free-market solutions to environmental challenges.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s environmental plan will unite Americans around broadly shared values and commonsense priorities to protect our air, water, natural resources and sacred places. As an independent, Kennedy will break through the divisive political arguments that keep us distracted while Republicans and Democrats allow corporate interests to strip-mine our natural heritage.

In contrast with Kennedy’s lifelong efforts to fight corporate corruption and contamination of our environment, Presidents Trump and Biden both appointed corporate lobbyists to fill federal regulatory agencies. Trump rolled back dozens of environmental rules for big polluters, and Biden has given corporations billions of dollars of taxpayer money for false environmental solutions.

In this election, Kennedy is inviting the American people to look beyond the failed and divisive environmental policies of the past, and meet on common ground. His plan will:

  • End the corporate capture of environmental regulatory agencies, including the EPA, USDA, DOI, DOE, USFWS, and USFS.
  • Reduce toxic chemical pollution and plastic waste.
  • Protect forests, rivers, fisheries, and wildlife habitats from corporate abuse.
  • Adopt a wildfire management plan to keep forests resilient and communities safe.
  • Stop big corporations and corrupt government officials who are using the environment as an excuse for profit-making schemes and power grabs.

End the Chronic Disease Epidemic

The current generation is the sickest in American history. When John F. Kennedy was president, 6% of American kids had a chronic health condition. Today it is 60%. Rates of autoimmune disease, diabetes, ADD and ADHD, autism, obesity, asthma, food allergies, and other chronic health conditions have been skyrocketing.

Yet, no political candidate has made this an issue. They all take it for granted as normal. With one exception: Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Politicians in both parties, including Presidents Trump and Biden, have allowed America’s health to deteriorate. They debate about who will bear healthcare costs, which is like rearranging chairs on the Titanic. But no one dares to investigate the root causes of the chronic disease epidemic. There’s no money in it. As Americans get sicker, corporate political donors — Big Pharma and Wall Street firms that control much of the medical industry — get richer.

America’s catastrophic health is bankrupting our country. In JFK’s era the U.S. spent 4% of GDP on healthcare. Today it is 17%. That is $4.3 trillion, dwarfing the total federal defense and security budget of $1.3 trillion. Approximately 90% of U.S. healthcare costs are for people with chronic and mental health conditions.

During RFK Jr.’s first week in office, he will convene a meeting at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to declare a major shift in priorities: The federal government will refocus its $50 billion medical research budget toward chronic disease prevention. Kennedy will start funding studies into the causes of chronic disease, including toxic chemicals (PFAS, glyphosate, neonics, etc.), air and water pollution, microplastics, electromagnetic pollution, ultra-processed foods, and pharmaceutical products.

As President, Kennedy will also:

  • Uproot the influence of Big Pharma and Wall Street firms that are heavily invested in the medical industry from medical regulatory agencies.
  • Transition from a toxic, degenerative industrial food system to an organic, regenerative system of agriculture.
  • Start a national fitness program like the one his uncle, JFK, implemented.

Regenerating America’s Soil, Farms, and Food

Quite literally, soil is the foundation of our nation, and America’s soils have been poisoned, eroded, and depleted for a century. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is going to reverse that. The chemical-industrial agriculture that has destroyed family farms has also brought us chronic disease, ecological damage, polluted water, and even higher food prices.

Grocery costs have risen 17% in two years — faster than inflation. Six in ten American adults suffer from chronic disease. Toxic chemicals like glyphosate and chlormequat contaminate nearly our entire food supply. Rural aquifers are drying up, soil is eroding, and droughts and floods are the new normal.

Regenerative agriculture can reverse all of this. Using organic methods instead of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides, regenerative farmers bring the biome of the soil back to life, increase biodiversity, improve the water cycle, and produce healthy food free of toxins. When the soil is restored it is able to absorb more excess carbon than anything else on earth, even more than trees. We won't need carbon credit scores and authoritarian restrictions if we simply heal the earth through better farming practices.

Some of America’s most innovative farmers, such as Rick Clark, Gabe Brown, and Will Smith are showing how family farms can thrive, how soil and water can heal, and how farmers can maintain high yields without toxic chemicals.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will seek to systemize their innovations. He will shift regulatory priorities to favor small farmers and regenerative practices. He will get corporate influence out of the USDA, FDA, and EPA. He will lobby Congress to change the system of agricultural subsidies so that they no longer favor the biggest corporate producers.

Under RFK Jr., America will see a revitalized farm sector, lower food prices, better health, and a healthier environment. No other politician is making this an issue. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will rebuild America, literally from the ground up.

Politics As Usual Has Failed the Black Community

For too long the levers of power in Washington have changed hands between Republicans and Democrats without meaningful change coming to the black community. Things will be different with Independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr. who has spent forty years fiercely protecting minority communities.

In Kennedy’s first case as an environmental attorney, he represented the NAACP in its fight to stop a garbage station in Ossining, NY. He has always been there for vulnerable communities, from the Bronx to indigenous people in North and South America.

OPERATION PHOENIX

Black businesses are the lifeblood of their community, and Kennedy knows it. He served on the board of Restoration Plaza in Bed-Stuy for 35 years. Ending redlining and releasing investment capital turned Restoration Plaza into a thriving business community. Kennedy will replicate this success across the country. Rather than the hundred billion dollar bank bailouts, Kennedy will invest in urban and struggling communities. They will rise and thrive through Operation Phoenix.

TANGIBLES:

  • Increased access to investment capital for a robust, self-sustaining Black business infrastructure.
  • Institute Black Business Development Agency to build and support African-American companies.
  • Web courses taught by respected Black entrepreneurs on starting a business as qualifiers for small business grants.
  • Low interest microloans to invest in approved business plans with flexible repayment terms.
  • Millions of new, full-time jobs for the Black community.
  • Immigration policy that protects local resources, ending the migrant encampments in urban areas.
  • Increased trade school and college prep opportunities for our youth.

JUSTICE
Police Reform

  • Recruit police from the neighborhoods they serve.
  • Don’t make police do jobs they aren’t trained for..Increased funding for mental health professionals accompanying police to help de-escalate citizens in nonviolent mental health crises.
  • Commission to root out systemic bias from the federal to the local levels.
  • Ending civil forfeiture by making seizing assets from citizens illegal without due process.

Justice for Black Farmers
Robert Kennedy Jr. will end USDA discrimination against Black farmers, and protect current landowners from further land loss.

Prison Reform
Expand reintroduction to the community for non-violent offenders and dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline by ending suspensions being added to criminal records.

Environmental Justice
Penalize environmental pollution caused by corporations dumping toxic waste in Black communities.

AN AMERICAN DREAM FOR ALL

Americorps and a New GI Bill for Community Service
Just as the GI Bill built the middle class after WWII, Kennedy’s expansion of service award benefits in Americorps, our domestic Peace Corps, will put the next generation on a path towards the American Dream. Cleaning up parks, caring for the elderly, building infrastructure and working on organic, healing farms will unlock significant assets to pay your way through college or learn a trade, start a small business or put a down payment on a home. With nearly 60% of minority households liquid asset poor, Kennedy’s plan will help end the racial wealth gap.

Student Debt Relief
As President, RFK Jr. will push to make student debt dischargeable in bankruptcy and move to cancel student debt.

Home Ownership
First time home buyers should not have to compete with private equity firms and billionaires to buy a home. Kennedy will fight to keep Wall Street out of the single family home market and institute 3% government-backed mortgage bonds to make home ownership more affordable for families. It’s like having a rich uncle - Uncle Sam - who is willing to cosign your mortgage.

Homelessness
There’s no American Dream for those living the nightmare of homelessness which disproportionately affects the Black Community. Kennedy will push to address root causes of homelessness and expand wrap around services.

Addressing the Black Maternal Healthcare Crisis

Implicit bias and discrimination in healthcare is a serious issue affecting the Black community. The history of this extends centuries back into the American experiment. It has resulted in Black women receiving lower quality care. Studies indicate that Black women are less likely to be heard by healthcare providers.

Higher rates of poverty and limited access to quality healthcare contribute to poorer health outcomes. Black women are more likely to live in areas with fewer healthcare facilities and providers. Additionally, Black women experience higher rates of conditions like hypertension, diabetes, and obesity, which can complicate pregnancy and childbirth.

Limited access to prenatal care, often due to lack of insurance or transportation, can lead to undiagnosed and untreated complications. Chronic stress from facing racial discrimination and economic instability can negatively impact pregnancy outcomes. Many Black women live in areas with limited or no maternity care services, which can delay or prevent access to necessary care.

Solutions to Reduce the Crisis

  • Address Systemic Racism: Implement training programs for healthcare providers to recognize and counteract implicit biases. Encourage diversity in the medical workforce.
  • Expand Access to Healthcare: Increase funding for Medicaid and other programs that provide healthcare to low-income individuals. Ensure that all women have access to comprehensive prenatal care.
  • Community-Based Support: Develop community health programs that provide support to pregnant women. This includes doulas and midwives who can offer personalized care and advocacy.
  • Improve Data Collection and Research: Collect better data on maternal health outcomes to identify and address disparities. Fund research focused on understanding and reducing these disparities.
  • Policy Changes: Advocate for policies that support maternal health, such as paid family leave, affordable childcare, and access to reproductive health services.
  • Education and Awareness: Increase awareness about the importance of prenatal care and the signs of pregnancy complications. Provide education on healthy lifestyle choices.
  • Support Pregnancy Resource Centers: Support and expand pregnancy resource centers like Auntie Angie's House, which provide essential services and support to pregnant women, particularly those from marginalized communities. These centers offer a safe space, resources, and personalized care, helping to bridge the gap in healthcare access.

Righting Old Wrongs Is Long Overdue for Native Americans

“These kinds of conditions can not be permitted to exist in the United States.” Robert F Kennedy after seeing the impoverished living conditions on the Pine Ridge Reservation.

Robert F Kennedy Jr inherited from his father a deep commitment to improving the lives of Native Americans. Like his father, he sees the poverty and suffering in Indian Country as our country’s greatest shame and he believes that the federal government’s unfair dealings and broken treaties with the tribal nations are our nation’s original sin.

After accompanying his father on campaign trips to reservations around the country, RFK Jr was inspired to focus a significant amount of his own career on representing the interests of indigenous Americans in the United States, Canada and Latin America. He has advocated for these first Americans in courtrooms and in treaty negotiations; he has fought for them against mining, timber, hydroelectric, and oil-industry forces endeavoring to steal their resources and destroy their lands and tribal culture. RFK Jr has been on the front lines of recent battles in Indian country: he joined the water protectors at Standing Rock and he and his son Conor were arrested protesting the Keystone XL pipeline.

Under a Kennedy administration, historic wrongs done to Native Americans will be addressed and made right. The spirit as well as the letter of treaties must be honored as the highest law of the land: documents made between sovereign nations. Cultural renewal will be supported and religious practices and sacred sites will be defended. Tribal sovereignty and the right of self determination will be respected. The need for restoration of illegally taken lands and resources, compensation for broken treaties, protection and enhancement of natural resources in Indian Country, will be elevated to matters of national interest and examination. Tribes will have a friend and ally in the White House.

While we know some of the problems in Indian Country, we will work in partnership with Native American leaders to learn more and to find the solutions. It is the duty of the federal government to do all that it can to create a better life for all Americans—especially those who have been reprehensibly neglected. We will seek to restore trust between Native Americans and the federal government and we will work hard to deserve it. We believe it is not enough to apologize for—or even attempt to rectify—past injustices; we need to prevent current and future injustices from occurring.

Restore Our Rights

Our administration will make it a top priority to protect and restore the fundamental civil liberties, enshrined in the Bill of Rights, that hold the essence of what America can be. These liberties have endured constant assault for more than 20 years, starting with the Bush/Cheney War on Terror, and accelerating in the era of Covid lockdowns.

Freedom of speech is the capstone of all other rights and freedoms. Once a government has the power to silence its opponents, no other right is safe. We will therefore dismantle the censorship-industrial complex, in which Big Tech censors, deplatforms, shadowbans, and algorithmically suppresses any person or opinion the government asks them to. We will respect the right to privacy and freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures, by ending mass surveillance of American citizens and the abuse of civil asset forfeiture. We will make sure that the Covid-era suspension of the right to assembly, trial by jury, and freedom of worship will never happen again. The same for the right to property. During Covid, 3.4 million businesses were forced to close. Many of them, including 60% of Black-owned businesses, will never reopen.

A Kennedy administration will respect American citizens and stop treating them like suspects and schoolchildren. We will stop manipulating the public with propaganda and targeted leaks. We will never weaponize the law against political opponents, nor hold our own officials above the law. We will return the intelligence agencies to their proper role as protectors not violators of liberty.

We will also take special care to ensure the civil liberties of minorities and the poor. We will end the failed War on Drugs and grant amnesty to nonviolent drug offenders. We will shut the school-to-prison pipeline, and transition prisons away from a punishment paradigm to a rehabilitation paradigm. Prisons will be an intervention in a life gone wrong, and a way to prevent offenders from harming others again.

Instead of defunding the police, we will transform the police. We will incentivize them to prevent violence, not make unnecessary arrests. We will train them in de-escalation and mediation skills and partner them with neighborhood organizations. No longer will their relationship to the public be adversarial. They will focus their attention on serious crimes, not harassing ordinary people.

Veterans Must Be a Top Priority

Since the terrorist attacks on 9/11, American servicemen and women have been called upon to support a state of near-perpetual war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Unlike any period of conflict in American history, these wars have been fought by an all-volunteer force, of which 77% deployed twice or more. Mr. Kennedy embraces this sacrifice made by veterans to the country, your sense of honor, and your desire to serve.

Mr. Kennedy understands veterans’ acute awareness of the true nature, enormous cost and sacrifice, and folly of America’s engagement in these conflicts. Veterans deserve recognition for their remarkable service. More importantly, they deserve a special voice in our democracy’s councils of war and peace and in re-uniting our country around shared purposes.

The stark absence, except in rare circumstances, of input from veterans in the more extensive debate about the US role in the world is improper, and when he is President, Mr. Kennedy will change this on day one.

Mr. Kennedy understands that veterans are not victims. Instead, your steadfast dedication to values such as accountability, duty, honor, and candor has been misused by politicians and the military-industrial complex, who have deliberately kept the true opinions of those who have served in these wars out of the conversation. For example, veterans have first hand knowledge of the waste and fraud endemic to the government contracting system, and ideas of how to fix it.

Mr. Kennedy knows that only by giving veterans a “seat at the table” can Washington avoid making the same mistakes of the Global War on Terrorism again.

A Seat At the Table

No one knows more about the sprawling global military presence than the veterans who have implemented the policies that have built it. America has a role, but that should put the security of America and her citizens first, and no one knows better what that should look like than her veterans.

When elected President, Mr. Kennedy will establish a Veterans Council within the President’s Executive Office. The purpose of this council will be to respond quickly to veteran’s issues while bypassing the bureaucracy of the VA and, in effect, bring solutions to the VA for that department to execute. Further, Mr. Kennedy will give the head of the PVC a seat at National Security Council meetings to bring your unique perspective on war and leverage your experience.

Mr. Kennedy Will Protect Your Benefits and Optimize the VA

Mr. Kennedy is committed to protecting the benefits you have earned through the sacrifice of your youth on behalf of this great nation. As President, Mr. Kennedy will not allow your benefits to be reduced. Instead, he will solicit your input on making those benefits more impactful to enable you to reach the highest echelons of success and prosperity. Mr. Kennedy Wants Veterans to be Community Leaders and an Economic Power Mr. Kennedy understands that service in the US military is largely generational, or in other words, a “family business.” Further, many veterans return home after one enlistment, and you have had a lifetime of experience by the age of 22.

Understanding this and that leadership, fairness, discipline, and accountability are core to your persona and values as a veteran, Mr. Kennedy wants to empower you to lead your community.

For too long, America has been deliberately divided against itself by those seeking self-enrichment, which has cost this nation its role and reputation as a beacon of hope and a moral leader worldwide. With your experience, leadership, and participation, and Mr. Kennedy in the White House, we will return not only to this position globally but also to heal the ever-growing divide at home.

Expand Americorps

Many young people today face a bleak choice upon graduation from high school. Some go to college, but college is not for everyone. Most of the rest must choose between low paying jobs in the service or gig economy, military enlistment, or a “career” in the illegal drug trade.

That is why Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is going to transform the existing Americorps program to offer a new option to young people who want to gain skills, step into adult responsibilities, and most of all, act on their altruism and desire to serve something larger than themselves.

Americorps, officially known as the National Civilian Community Corps, was founded in 1994 as a domestic version of the Peace Corps, which President John F. Kennedy established the in 1961. Today, the kind of service the Peace Corps has done in the world is needed urgently in our own country.

The existing Americorps is just a one-year program open only to college grads. The transformed Americorps will be open to all people 18 and older who want to make a four year commitment to service, in areas such as:

  • Urban renewal
  • Ecological restoration
  • Care for the disabled, sick, and elderly
  • Infrastructure repair
  • Addiction recovery centers
  • Organic agriculture

Each of these areas represents a huge unmet need for our country. For example, some estimate that 500,00-600,000 skilled workers are needed for infrastructure repair alone. There is plenty of meaningful work to be done to revitalize our country!

The expanded Americorps will develop relationships with other organizations such as trade unions and NGOs to ensure the labor and creativity of Americorps volunteers supports existing organizations.

Benefits to participants will be on a par with benefits to military veterans:

  • All food, housing, medical care provided (as in military)
  • Monthly stipend
  • Assistance with college tuition, medical care, and mortgage upon finishing deployment
  • Learn vocational skills
  • Do meaningful work
  • Bond with other young people who care

The expanded Americorps will offer an exciting and fulfilling path into adulthood for hundreds of thousands of young people. The requirements placed upon them will be challenging, rivaling the expectations of soldiers in the military, but they will leave the program capable, confident, and ready to continue contributing to society.

The expanded Americorps will also provide a transition zone for retiring military personnel who want to continue serving their country while learning economically useful civilian skills. The focus areas of the expanded Americorps coincide with high-demand professions, particularly in construction and repair. Americorps will give veterans a place to apply their leadership skills as supervisors and mentors while also developing skills suitable for civilian life. Their transition will symbolize that of our entire nation, as we become the world-inspiring example of peace that John F. Kennedy aspired to when he founded the original Peace Corps in 1961.

More Choices, More Life

Abortion is one of the most divisive issues in American politics. We’ve been offered two positions — pro-life and pro-choice — with hardly any room between or outside them. This wedge issue keeps Americans fighting with each other and destroys our most promising alliances. Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s policy won’t end the debate, but it offers a way forward that most Americans can support. It is called “More Choices, More Life.”

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a medical freedom advocate and supports a woman’s right to choose until a fetus is viable. At the same time, Kennedy’s policy will dramatically reduce abortion in our country, and it will do so by offering more choices for women and families, not less.

A lot of women, when they get pregnant, feel they can’t afford to have a baby. There isn’t a lot of support to raise a child in this society. You can’t call yourself pro-life if you are concerned only with life before birth. What about after birth? We have to make our society as welcoming as possible to children and to motherhood.

The centerpiece of More Choices, More Life is a massive subsidized daycare initiative. We will safeguard women’s reproductive rights while redirecting the funds being spent on the war in Ukraine to subsidize community- and home-based daycares, along with stay-at-home parents. Instead of padding the pockets of our weapons manufacturers, we will pay 100% of care for the three million children under five who live beneath our poverty line. And we will cap the cost at 10% of family income for everyone else. These payments will not be available to corporate daycare chains or the hedge funds that own them. They will fund only single-location small businesses — as well as parents who decide to stay home with their children.

Universal childcare has the potential to add $1 trillion to our GDP, according to Moodys. And since economics is a major driver of abortion, this policy will do more to lower abortion rates than any coercive measure ever could.

On top of this policy, we will also strengthen our adoption infrastructure to make it the best in the world. We will increase the child tax credit, and we will fund sanctuaries for women in need to have babies, places like Auntie Angie’s House, where they get support not just in pregnancy and birth but also in those precious months afterwards. That way, their only “choice” isn’t abortion. They have another choice, a viable choice to give birth.

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. will never compromise Americans’ freedoms to solve our nation’s problems. We can have more choices and more life.”

Fortunately, there is a lot we can do to reduce abortions — by choice, not by force. As President, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will make it easier for women to choose life. He will give them more choices than they have today, we will see a lot fewer abortions, and a lot more flourishing families.

Every American Can Be an Energy Entrepreneur

“America has an opportunity to set an example for the world by creating a true free market for energy, replacing the current marketplace that is riddled with rules written by polluters and designed to reward the use of the dirtiest fuels.” 

      - Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

For his entire career, RFK Jr. has advocated for a free-market approach to energy and environmental issues. In a true free-market system, private corporations are supposed to pay for their own costs. But today, many big corporations internalize their profits as they externalize the costs of their environmental damage, meaning that the American public ends up paying instead of the polluters.

Globally, the fossil fuel industry receives about $7 trillion per year in subsidies. A portion of that enormous sum comes from direct subsidies like tax breaks. But most comes from indirect subsidies, which companies receive when they externalize the cost of the damage they cause to air, water, and common resources, as well as human health.

In places like western Pennsylvania, fracking companies poisoned the water supplies, forcing local residents to buy bottled water instead of drinking from their own wells. Those areas now incur higher rates of cancers and other adverse health conditions. But the local people, not the corporations, were left with the bills.

The fossil fuel industry imposes many other costs on the public. Every freshwater fish in North America has been poisoned by mercury, primarily from coal-fired power plants. Adirondack lakes have been sterilized by acid rain, and hundreds of Appalachian mountains have been obliterated by mountain-top-removal mining. Americans suffer high rates of asthma and other chronic illnesses due to air and water pollution. Our country is continually caught up in wars fought over control of the oil supply.

The big industries that should be held responsible for these kinds of external costs do not pay for them. American citizens do.

As President, Kennedy will support public policies that require fossil fuel companies to internalize their costs. Then the free market will be able to do its job of punishing waste — pollution is waste — and incentivizing efficiency.

At the same time, Kennedy will support the development of emerging energy industries that have fewer external costs, including wind and solar. He believes the federal government has an important role to play in encouraging these nascent industries by building infrastructure to unleash what President Franklin D. Roosevelt called “America’s industrial genius.”

Kennedy will do so by upgrading and enhancing our nation’s power grid. The current grid is divided into 50 different public utilities that operate under arcane rules written by the fossil fuel industry to favor their dirty, poisonous “fuels from hell” and prevent competition from cheap, clean, green, and patriotic “fuels from heaven.”

The United States has abundant wind and solar energy, but we need a better grid to connect the wind power centers of the Midwest and the solar power centers of the desert Southwest to places where that energy is needed. Just as President Eisenhower built the national highway system to drive down the cost of transportation, Kennedy will build a nationwide grid to drive down the cost of electricity.

Kennedy’s policies will allow Americans to sell energy back to the grid from rooftop solar panels and from wind and geothermal sources located on their land. Every American can be an energy entrepreneur and every home be a power plant, rather than relying on Saudi Arabian oil and Appalachian coal.

RFK Jr.’s innovative, free-market approach to energy stands in stark contrast to the policies of Presidents Trump and Biden. President Trump’s “Drill Baby, Drill” plan left no room for sensible environmental protections, and only added to the massive subsidies that oil, gas, and coal companies receive.

President Biden, too, has lavished huge subsidies and tax credits on energy companies, enriching their billionaire owners, and he has even subsidized Big Oil companies for false environmental solutions, while simultaneously opening millions of acres of public lands and waters to oil and gas drilling.

President Biden is also subsidizing and “fast tracking” thousands of offshore wind turbines along the East Coast, an expensive and inefficient boondoggle that is causing horrendous damage to the ocean environment, fisheries, and marine life, including whales and dolphins.

Kennedy will focus instead on land-based wind in states like Montana, North Dakota, and Texas where wind energy is cheap, abundant, less environmentally costly, and welcomed by communities that benefit from local energy development.

He will minimize the environmental impacts of wind, solar, and electric vehicles by incentivizing development of the next generation of battery and storage technologies, which will rely less on environmentally destructive mining for rare earth metals. Replacing lithium batteries with batteries that use sodium, a more abundant and easily obtained mineral, is one such promising technology.

Kennedy’s free-market plan will take America’s energy and environmental policy in a new direction. He will unleash a wave of energy innovation and entrepreneurship that will revive our economy and improve our environment, giving Americans access to the cleanest, most efficient, and most environmentally friendly forms of energy possible.

Tax Fairness

Share “The tax burden on America’s middle class and working poor must be reduced.” 

      - Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

As President, Robert F. Kennedy Jr will propose a revenue-neutral plan that helps both the lower and middle classes, subsidized not by raising rates on high income households, but rather by closing loopholes and eliminating deductions that only benefit the wealthy.

Kennedy’s plan to achieve tax fairness will:

  • Double the child tax credit
  • Restore the personal exemption of $5000
  • Increase the standard deduction
  • Eliminate the carried interest loophole

Recovering America with Healing Farms

“We’re going to build healing centers in communities across the nation, places that help empower a generation beset by depression, PTSD, loneliness, addiction, and mental illness, where they can reconnect with nature and recover.” —Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

From big cities to small towns, Americans are dying from drug overdoses in record numbers. Nearly 220,000 Americans died of overdoses in the previous two years alone. The drug fentanyl, in particular, is ravaging our communities, especially young people. Tragically, 29.5 million Americans, ages 12 and up, have an alcohol use disorder. More than 178,000 people die per year in the United States due to excessive alcohol use.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was nine years old when he lost his uncle and 14 when his father was killed. In seeking relief from these traumas, he fell into addiction. Kennedy quit all alcohol and drugs at 28 and has been sober for over 40 years. The healing Kennedy experienced in his own life, motivates him to help others find that freedom and renewal.

In the new documentary, "Recovering America", RFK Jr. travels the U.S. in search of the most promising solutions to end the drug crisis and help Americans find lasting recovery. As President, Kennedy will build an innovative nationwide network of hundreds of healing centers, where people can reconnect with nature, learn the discipline of hard work, and rebuild their lives.

On Healing Farms, Americans will eat organic foods, unplug from computers and phones, be mentored by peers in recovery, and be of service.

It’s not simply a traditional rehab center. On Healing Farms, struggling Americans will master new skills such as regenerative farming and ranching, carpentry, furniture making, culinary arts, entrepreneurship and other professions including that of electricians, plumbers, HVAC technicians, and construction workers.

Taxing Marijuana

Healing Farms will be funded by a federal tax on marijuana with no net cost. Enrollment is free the moment a participant arrives with no time limit on recovery. The waitlists, referrals and prohibitive costs of private treatment centers are avoided and so are the risks that addicts so often succumb to – losing their motivation to heal and retreating to the cycle of use and despair. Instead, Healing Farms will foster community and provide their guests with a fresh start on life.

Today, the largest industry in America's depressed rural areas is our prison industrial complex. Since the 1980s the U.S. has built prisons in these communities to house America’s young people who have been devastated by the drug crisis. Isn’t it time to turn our national attention to healing instead? Healing Farms will foster community and bring a healthy new industry to rural areas and forgotten corners of America.

Federal Parity Law

The 2008 Federal Parity Law requires insurers to cover illnesses of the brain, such as addiction or depression, no more restrictively than illnesses of the body, such as cancer or diabetes. As the nationwide mental health and addiction crisis deepens, mental health parity is more important than ever. Unfortunately, many insurers are still not following the law.

Common violations of the Federal Parity Law include separate deductibles or higher copays for behavioral health services and limits on how many days a patient can stay in a treatment facility or how many times they can see a health provider. These violations are unacceptable and can result in families sacrificing college savings, retirement or even going bankrupt to pay for treatment their insurance won’t but should cover by law.

As President, Kennedy will protect the health and well-being of the American people and aggressively enforce parity law.

Defend Labor, Uplift Workers

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a strong supporter of labor rights, going back to his youthful involvement with Cesar Chavez. He believes that capitalism can function only in the presence of a strong labor movement. If workers cannot bargain collectively, they will always be at a disadvantage negotiating with large corporations, who will relentlessly drive down wages and erode working conditions.

The Administration of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will make defense of the rights of workers a cardinal principle of governance.

He believes that high wages and benefits are essential to the economic security of families and the nation. Unions allow workers to claim their fair share of the business profits they contribute to.

Accordingly, Mr. Kennedy will defend these worker’s rights:

  • The right to organize.
  • The right to collective bargaining.
  • The right to strike.
  • The right to meaningful wages and benefits, which includes a significant increase to the minimum wage .
  • The right to a healthy and safe workplace with appropriate working conditions.
  • The right to compensation if injured on the job.
  • The right to a dignified and secure retirement.

Mr. Kennedy will vigorously defend these and other workers' rights and use the power of the presidency to uplift the standing of workers throughout the nation. He will:

  • Vigorously enforce the law against union-busting corporations so that workers at places like Starbucks and Amazon can organize.
  • Fight for a federal tax deduction for union dues, in recognition that strong unions are a boon to our nation.
  • Raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, with automatic further increases to keep pace with inflation.
  • Support legislation like the PRO Act to boost worker protections and unionization.
  • Lobby Congress to change bankruptcy laws so that collective bargaining agreements are preserved through bankruptcy and assumed by the new owner. He will make sure that corporations cannot use bankruptcy maneuvers to strip workers of their agreements, benefits, and pensions.
  • Strengthen protections for workers in the gig economy, so that corporations can no longer use gig workers to undermine wages for regular employees.
  • Protect worker rights in trade agreements. Neoliberal free trade policies set American workers into competition with workers in low-wage countries that have few labor protections where, in some cases, unions are non-existent. Mr. Kennedy will make labor protections the centerpiece of any future trade agreements.
  • Promote the on-shoring of industrial production, again so that American workers are not pitted in competition against workers from low-wage countries.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is committed to being the strongest pro-labor President since the 1960s, as part of his broader commitment to restore a strong middle class in America.

Care For Every Child
63% of Americans say their family’s income is falling behind the cost of living. The affordability crisis is especially dire when it comes to the cost of childcare.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) considers childcare affordable at 7% of household income, but the national average expenditure is now a whopping 24%. A median income Black family with two young children spends 56% of their total income on childcare.

In 28 states, childcare costs more than college tuition, and in all 50 states two kids in childcare costs more than housing. 71% of parents say the cost of childcare is an unmanageable financial burden.

To solve this urgent problem, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Care for Every Child plan will cap total childcare expenditures at 15% of family income above the poverty line. If your income is below the poverty line, child care is free. 100% subsidized.

Kennedy’s plan will provide universally affordable community-based childcare or identical payment to in-home caregivers for children aged three months to five years old. Only home-based childcare or single-location small business daycares will be eligible for payments, not institutional chain daycares that are so often owned by Wall Street hedge funds.

Families will have the option to take the same payment to compensate an at-home caregiver, whether a parent, family member, or babysitter. One monthly payment will be issued per child.

The total annual cost of the plan will be $175 billion, which is approximately what the U.S. has already spent on the war in Ukraine. This program will not be funded by any new government spending, but instead by redirecting excess military funding, which does little to grow GDP, increase tax revenue, boost employment, or improve the lives of American families.

Unlike military expenditures, the Care for Every Child plan will boost tax revenue by $21 billion, increase U.S. employer revenue by $23 billion, raise U.S. parents’ wages by $78 billion, create 423,000 new childcare jobs, and add $1 trillion to our GDP over 6 years when combined with paid family leave.

Because these many direct and indirect benefits are spread across all Congressional Districts, this program allows legislators to redirect excess defense spending without penalizing their home districts or endangering their own re-election resources. In fact, universally affordable daycare has overwhelming support from voters on all sides of the aisle and creates more than 3x the number of jobs (and immeasurably more joy, purpose and prosperity) than defense spending. Achieving this bipartisan objective without increasing government spending will drive re-election victories for red and blue legislators across the country.

In this way, RFK Jr’s Care for Every Child program is a keystone example of how an Independent Kennedy Administration will work with Congress to redirect excessive and wasteful spending in service of economic growth and the true needs of the American people.

It’s important to note that the above discussion addresses only the direct economic benefits of universally available daycare. The indirect follow-on effects are even more beneficial to our country.

Inability to afford childcare is the number one reason that American women leave the workforce, cut their hours, refuse a promotion, or turn down a better job. Fathers, grandparents, and many other caregivers face these same difficult decisions between affording childcare and pursuing the dreams they have for themselves and their families.

Kennedy’s Care for Every Child doesn’t just benefit caregivers. Its greatest beneficiaries are the children themselves.

Longitudinal studies show that kids who have benefitted from early childhood education are more likely to be employed full time as adults, more likely to be in a happy long-term relationship, less likely to rely on public assistance, less likely to become parents under the age of 21, and less likely to ever be incarcerated. They also have lower systolic blood pressure well into adulthood, fewer adverse health events, and represent a lower overall cost to America’s health care, justice, and public assistance programs.

Kennedy’s Care for Every Child plan will grow our economy, reduce public expenditures, free every parent to pursue their dreams, and give every American child the lifetime academic, social, nutritional, and emotional benefits of quality childhood care. Without any new government spending, this signature Kennedy initiative will also alleviate one of the biggest sources of financial stress for American families today.

Bitcoin and Blockchain are Essential to Human Freedom
“Freedom of speech means nothing if the government can freeze your bank account the minute you say something it doesn’t like.” - Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a stalwart defender of Constitutional freedoms. But there is one freedom so fundamental that the founders didn’t even think to put it in the Bill of Rights – the freedom to transact.

The state of technology in the 18th century made limiting that right virtually impossible. But with today's modern technology, government control over an individual's personal financial transactions is a very real danger. That is why cryptocurrencies like bitcoin are so important. They provide a bulwark against the ability of state authorities to freeze bank accounts and economically disable individuals whom they find objectionable, as happened in Canada during the pandemic.

Furthermore, the underlying technology that powers bitcoin – decentralized public ledgers known as blockchains – are among the most dynamic areas of innovation and entrepreneurialism in the world today. Kennedy believes it is essential for America to provide a regulatory environment friendly to blockchain innovation, so that our country remains a world leader in this critical technology of the 21st century.

As President, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will prioritize:

  • Global Leadership: Keep America a world leader in blockchain development by ending unjust legal prosecution against developers of open-source software.
  • Right to Privacy: Guarantee financial freedom including the right to self-custody, peer-to-peer transactions, and freedom from financial surveillance or censorship.
  • Thoughtful Regulation: End the politically motivated regulatory assault on financial services providers seeking to operate in the crypto-sector and create a regulatory environment designed to expand, not limit, the adoption of blockchain technologies.
  • Incentivizing Development: Encourage and normalize the adoption of bitcoin as a free-market, rules-based collaboration network that promotes voluntary exchange and global economic development.
  • Promote Peace: Recognize that bitcoin is a helpful tool for diminishing the power of the military industrial complex and can serve as an ambassador for American values like free speech, strong property rights and open capital markets all over the world.
  • Keeping Government Honest: Promote transparency and reign in public corruption by implementing a blockchain-based solution to track and monitor all federal budget expenditures.
  • Building a Strategic Reserve: Stop liquidating all bitcoin held by the U.S. Government and instead continue building a strategic reserve that can be used to back the U.S. Dollar and curtail the inflationary impact of fiat money printing.
  • Incentivizing Clean Energy: Create incentives for bitcoin miners who operate using renewable energy sources or who can mitigate methane emissions.
  • Fixing Unfair Tax Regimes: Recognize cryptocurrency as a currency, not an asset. End the treatment of de-minimis Bitcoin transactions as taxable events.
  • Preventing a CBDC: Never allow the U.S. to adopt a CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency), which can be used as an instrument of totalitarian control over the American people.[24][25]
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Recent news

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See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Senate Press Gallery, "Thursday, February 13, 2025," February 13, 2025
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Britannica, "Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.," accessed November 20, 2024
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Business Insider, "How RFK Kennedy Jr. turned from tragedy and tumult to environmentalism before becoming the face of vaccine skepticism," May 22, 2024
  4. ↑ New York Times, "Robert Kennedy Jr. Admits He Is Guilty In Possessing Heroin," February 18, 1984
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Congress.gov, "Biography – Robert F. Kennedy, Jr," accessed November 20, 2024
  6. ↑ Waterkeeoer.org, "About Us," accessed November 21, 2024
  7. ↑ Children's Health Defense, "Mission," accessed November 21, 2024
  8. ↑ NPR, "RFK Jr. is building a presidential campaign around conspiracy theories," July 13, 2023
  9. ↑ Fox News, "RFK Jr. says he would prosecute Fauci as president if 'crimes were committed:' 'He caused a lot of injury'," July 10, 2023
  10. ↑ CNN, "Robert F. Kennedy Jr. files paperwork to run for president as a Democrat," April 5, 2023
  11. ↑ NPR, "RFK Jr. says he's running for president as an independent," October 9, 2023
  12. ↑ C-SPAN, "Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Declares Independent Candidacy," October 9, 2023
  13. ↑ YouTube, "LIVE: RFK Jr. speaks after withdrawing from the ballot in Arizona," August 23, 2024
  14. ↑ Truth Social, "Trump on November 14, 2024," accessed November 14, 2024
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 Biography, "Robert F. Kennedy Jr.," accessed April 21, 2023
  16. ↑ The New York Times, "Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Hired by Morgenthau," March 28, 1982
  17. ↑ The New York Times, "NEW YORK DAY BY DAY; A Quiet Victory For Robert F. Kennedy Jr.," June 4, 1985
  18. ↑ Influence Watch, "Waterkeeper Alliance," accessed April 21, 2023
  19. ↑ Children's Health Defense, "Home," accessed April 21, 2023
  20. ↑ Truth Social, "Trump on November 14, 2024," accessed November 14, 2024
  21. ↑ Senate Press Gallery, "Thursday, February 13, 2025," February 13, 2025
  22. ↑ YouTube, "LIVE: RFK Jr. speaks after withdrawing from the ballot in Arizona," August 23, 2024
  23. ↑ Twitter, "Kennedy on March 26, 2024," accessed March 26, 2024
  24. ↑ Kennedy's campaign website, "Policies," accessed August 7, 2024
  25. ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
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