If you need any more reason to GOTV your butt off for the next four days, here you go: Chairman Rand Paul.
The one-time ophthalmologist is the senior Republican member of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee (HELP) after the retirement of Richard Burr. That means, if the Senate flips to Republicans, he chairs the committee that oversees the nation’s health and education agencies. That means libertarian Rand Paul conducting “investigations” and driving the legislative agenda on health care and education policy.
A note about why his being an ophthalmologist is relevant: he’s the guy who decided to create his own professional board, the National Board of Ophthalmology, in order to give himself his own credentials to continue to practice rather than being recertified by the real American Board of Ophthalmology. Again, this is who could be setting the legislative agenda on health care.
Paul was the first-known senator to contract COVID-19, who then declared he wouldn’t get vaccinated because his “natural immunity” would keep him from getting it again. No, really. “Until they show me evidence that people who have already had the infection are dying in large numbers or being hospitalized or getting very sick, I just made my own personal decision that I’m not getting vaccinated because I’ve already had the disease and I have natural immunity,” he said in a radio interview last year.
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And here’s what he’s campaigning on this year: “If you help me win, I promise to subpoena every last document of Dr. Fauci’s unprecedented coverup.” What’s the coverup? The conspiracy theory is that Fauci funded research in the lab in Wuhan, China, that created the COVID-19 virus.
Paul has been harassing Dr. Anthony Fauci relentlessly throughout the entirety of the pandemic, public attacks that Fauci has said “kindle the crazies.”
“What happens when he gets out and accuses me of things that are completely untrue is that all of a sudden that kindles the crazies out there, and I have threats upon my life, harassment of my family and my children, with obscene phone calls because people are lying about me,” Fauci said at a Senate hearing earlier this year.
“So I asked myself, ‘Why would senator want to do this?’ So go to Rand Paul website and you see ‘Fire Dr. Fauci’ with a little box that says, ‘Contribute here.’ You can do $5, $10, $20, $100,” Fauci said. “So you are making a catastrophic epidemic for your political gain.”
Paul is a danger to public health just by being one of 100 people who decide public policy. Having him in charge of the committee would be a disaster. The American Public Health Association, which gave Paul a 0% in its last legislative scorecard, says so in not so many words. “He has not been an exemplar of prevention or wellness,” said Georges C. Benjamin, executive director of APHA said, on the record. “That is a real problem when you’re a physician … you should know better.”
Other health organizations wouldn’t go on the record with the Washington Post “citing fears that criticizing Paul could backfire if he assumes the health committee’s leadership.” Great.
Paul is a crank. He’s flirted with anti-vaxxers. He’s a forced birther. He’s opposed to medical care for trans kids. And he could be heading up one of the most important policy-setting committees in Congress for health care. Oh, and education. Wheee.
If that’s not motivation enough to help keep the Senate in Democratic hands, I don’t know what is!
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At long last, the 2022 midterms are almost here! With the battle for the House front and center, we give you a window into the key races on a final pre-election episode of The Downballot. We discuss a wide range of contests that will offer insight into how the night is going, including top GOP pickup opportunities, second-tier Republican targets, and the seats where Democrats are on offense. And with many vote tallies likely to stretch on for some time, we also identify several bellwether races in states that count quickly.