Michigan US Rep. Haley Stevens plans effort to impeach RFK Jr.

Grant Schwab, The Detroit News on Sep 25, 2025

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WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens will introduce articles of impeachment against Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Michigan congresswoman announced Thursday.

"RFK Jr. is making our country less safe and making health care less affordable and accessible for Michiganders," Stevens, a Democrat, said in a statement.

The announcement comes after Kennedy and the Trump administration — among other moves — have slashed medical research funding, altered schedules for childhood and COVID-19 booster vaccines, and asserted unproven claims that the common pain relief medicine acetaminophen during pregnancy may cause autism. Research on that topic is inconclusive, according to the Yale School of Public Health.

It is unlikely that Stevens' call for impeachment will be successful, given Republican majorities in Congress. Impeachment votes have a simple majority threshold in the U.S. House and a two-thirds vote in the U.S. Senate after a trial.

Still, Stevens is seeking to put pressure on the nation's controversial health chief.

“Secretary Kennedy has violated his oath of office and proven himself unfit to serve the American people. Congress must act to hold him accountable, and I intend to lead the charge to remove him from office,” Stevens said.

"His contempt for science, the constant spreading of conspiracy theories, and his complete disregard for the thousands of research hours spent by America’s top doctors and experts is unprecedented, reckless and dangerous. Enough is enough — we need leaders who put science over chaos, facts over lies, and people over politics."

Stevens, who is also running for U.S. Senate in 2026, had been especially critical of Kennedy in recent weeks. She called on him to resign Sept. 15 and held a press conference on Sept. 10 with Dr. John Prensner, assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Michigan, to highlight threats to pediatric cancer research.

“In the past nine months since the Trump administration took office, I’ve seen a weakening in our nation’s commitment to childhood cancer that I never thought was possible," Prensner said in a statement.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Stevens' bid to oust Kennedy from the director's office.

President Donald Trump has backed Kennedy through recent controversies, including bipartisan pushback for the firing of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Susan Monarez.

The former health official warned senators during a Sept. 17 hearing that the U.S. public health system is headed to a "very dangerous place" under Kennedy.

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