House Democrats Move to Impeach RFK Jr. Over Public Health Cuts and Misleading Congress
By Brian Allen
The first formal impeachment attempt against a member of Trump’s Cabinet has arrived, and it targets Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The filing came from Rep. Haley Stevens of Michigan, who submitted her article on Wednesday after months of warning that Kennedy’s actions were directly harming public health. Although the Republican-controlled House is expected to block it, the move signals an escalation in the political backlash to Kennedy’s tenure.
Stevens told NBC News she was acting because Kennedy’s decisions had already cost lives. In her words, “It is a public health and safety issue” (Stevens, 2025). According to her account, clinical trials for cancer patients in Michigan have been disrupted under Kennedy’s leadership, leading to urgent constituents’ pleas for intervention
“When I have Michiganders who have daughters or sons going through clinical cancer research trials that are stopped in the middle because of RFK, when I introduce legislation to reinstitute the funding for those clinical trials, and it does not get done, this is a safety issue.”
(Stevens, 2025, para. 3)
Stevens, now running for an open Senate seat, framed her impeachment article not as political theater but as a necessary response to what she calls Kennedy’s sabotage of the nation’s health infrastructure. She argues that Kennedy misled Congress during his confirmation hearing by promising not to interfere with vaccine regulation or scientific administration. Yet a national coalition of scientists called Stand Up For Science asserts the opposite. Their petition, quoted in the NBC report, warns:
“Secretary Kennedy’s words and actions are killing Americans.”
(Stand Up For Science, as quoted in Stevens, 2025)
Kennedy’s office sharply rejected the impeachment move. HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon told NBC News that Kennedy was focused on “improving Americans’ health and lowering costs,” and dismissed the filing as partisan maneuvering intended to boost a struggling Senate campaign (Nixon, 2025) .
Michigan Politics and a Rising Pattern of Cabinet Scrutiny
Stevens is not alone. Michigan Democrat Shri Thanedar filed impeachment articles this week against Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. That filing came after reporting that Hegseth allegedly ordered troops to “kill them all” during a maritime drug interdiction operation. The White House has denied that any unlawful order was issued. Still, the simultaneous filings underscore how Trump’s Cabinet has become the lightning rod for a growing slate of Democratic investigations.
NBC News notes that Democrats like Stevens and Thanedar are currently locked in bruising primary campaigns. The impeachment filings are landing in a moment when Michigan’s base voters are sharply attuned to scientific credibility, military accountability, and Trump-era governance (Wong, 2025).
Another pulled quote from Stevens captures the prevailing frustration among pro-science lawmakers:
“I am not going to sit quietly by while people’s health and safety, and lives are on the line.”
(Stevens, 2025, para. 4)
What Happens Now
Despite the gravity of the allegations, the impeachment articles are almost certain to be blocked. Republicans control the House with a narrow 220 to 213 majority and can kill the effort procedurally. But even symbolic filings can matter. As Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries noted last week, even if impeachment is not viable, investigations absolutely are (Jeffries, 2025).
And the investigations are building.
Kennedy now faces a documented claim that he misled Congress, multiple allegations that his cuts halted active medical research, warnings from scientific groups about rising measles rates in Michigan, and a formal impeachment article that attacks his stewardship of federal public health at a structural level.
Stevens argues that Kennedy’s actions violate the core requirement of his office. As she puts it, “RFK, Jr., has got to go” (Stevens, 2025).
Even if the article never reaches the House floor, it has already reshaped the political narrative. It positions Kennedy not as a renegade reformer within the administration but as a liability whose policy decisions have caused documented harm.
The question now is whether these filings capture a moment or define a movement.
References
Stevens, H. (2025). House Democrat files impeachment articles against RFK Jr., NBC News.
Nixon, A. (2025). Statement on behalf of HHS responding to impeachment article. In House Democrat files impeachment articles against RFK Jr., NBC News.
Jeffries, H. (2025). Comments to reporters on impeachment feasibility. In House Democrat files impeachment articles against RFK Jr. NBC News.
Wong, S. (2025). Reporting and analysis contributed throughout the article. In House Democrat files impeachment articles against RFK Jr. NBC News.
Stand Up For Science. (2025). Petition statements as reported by NBC News. In House Democrat files impeachment articles against RFK Jr.