Politico: GOP senators meet with Kennedy to air MAHA report concerns
| GOP senators meet with Kennedy to air MAHA report concerns |
| One person familiar with the meeting said it was a “productive” discussion about high-level issues. Three others described it as “heated.” |
| By Grace Yarrow | 06/10/2025 09:23 PM EDT |
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. met with five GOP senators Tuesday following weeks of farm group backlash to a MAHA report that criticized pesticides. | Win McNamee/Getty Images |
| Key farm-state Republican senators met with HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and other Trump administration officials Tuesday to air concerns about the Make America Healthy Again report, which criticized pesticide use, according to four people with knowledge of the meeting.
The group of senators, including Agriculture Chair John Boozman (R-Ark.) and Appropriations agriculture subcommittee Chair John Hoeven (R-N.D.), engaged in a “productive” discussion about high-level issues involving both MAHA and farmers, said one of the people, who were all granted anonymity to share details about the conversation. Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Mo.) and Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) also attended, as did Kennedy adviser Calley Means. The White House is looking to soothe tensions over the MAHA report by requesting meetings over the coming weeks with Republican lawmakers and nearly 50 agriculture industry groups, several of whom were upset that the report mentioned the herbicides glyphosate and atrazine as potential causes of adverse health outcomes. The three other people familiar with Tuesday’s discussion described the tone as “heated.” At one point, Kennedy pounded on the table, one individual said. “If this was to try to calm people down, they failed miserably,” they added. Powerful agriculture lobbying groups — many of them Trump allies — are expressing concern that the report makes it seem like U.S.-produced foods aren’t safe to consume. They’re pushing Trump administration officials to take their input before releasing a final list of MAHA-related policy recommendations later this summer. HHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Nor did spokespeople for any of the five senators who attended the meeting Tuesday. Some of the senators have previously publicly criticized the MAHA report’s attacks on pesticide use. Boozman said in a statement last month that he was “troubled” by the report and urged the commission to move toward “course-correcting to prioritize sound science, peer-reviewed research, and the buy-in of the agricultural community.” Grassley told reporters after the MAHA report’s publication that it was softer on pesticides than he expected. The Iowa senator has urged Kennedy to stay away from “fooling around” with common agriculture practices. Marshall, on the other hand, is the chair of the Senate MAHA Caucus and has been a top Kennedy defender in Congress — though he also represents a state that produces large-scale U.S. commodities using traditional pesticides and herbicides. |
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