Skip to content
Project 2025
Donate to support
diverse voices
Search

Latest Stories

Follow Us:
Top Stories
Veterans Are Defending the Constitution against a New Enemy: The Secretary of War

Veterans Are Defending the Constitution against a New Enemy: The Secretary of War

​Performer Bad Bunny on stage.

Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl Halftime Show Sparks National Controversy As Trump Announces Boycott

Voting

Trump’s Call to ‘Nationalize’ Elections Collides With the Constitution

Trump’s Energy Promise Collapses as Electricity Bills Keep Rising

Trump’s Energy Promise Collapses as Electricity Bills Keep Rising

Alex Pretti’s Death Is a Code Blue for the U.S.

Alex Pretti’s Death Is a Code Blue for the U.S.

Senate confirms RFK. Jr as the nation's health secretary

News

Senate confirms RFK. Jr as the nation's health secretary

U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testifies during a Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing at the Dirksen Senate Building on January 29, 2025 in Washington, DC.

(Photo by Chen Mengtong/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images)
Hugo Balta
By Hugo BaltaFeb 14, 2025
Hugo Balta
Hugo Balta is a journalist, educator, and communicator. Hugo is the executive editor of the Fulcrum and a board member of the Bridge Alliance Education Fund, the parent organization of The Fulcrum. He is the publisher of the Latino News Network, a trainer with the Solutions Journalism Network, and an adjunct professor teaching journalism courses.
See More Writings by author

On Thursday, the Senate confirmed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) under President Donald Trump's administration, with a narrow vote of 52-48 largely following party lines.

“Our plans are radical transparency and returning gold standard science [to] NIH, the FDA and CDC, and ending the corruption, ending the corporate capture [of] those agencies, getting rid of the people on those panels that have conflicts of interest,” Kennedy said. “We can do unadorned and unimpeded science rather than the kind of product that is coming out of those agencies,” The Hill reported him saying.

His confirmation hearings were marked by significant controversy, particularly due to his previous statements linking vaccines to autism, a claim that has been widely discredited by scientific research.

Notably, Sen. Mitch McConnell was the only Republican to oppose Kennedy's nomination, citing his belief in the value of vaccines based on personal experience and scientific evidence.

"I'm a survivor of childhood polio. In my lifetime, I've watched vaccines save millions of lives from devastating diseases across America and around the world," McConnell said after the Kennedy vote. Fox News reported him saying, "I will not condone the re-litigation of proven cures, and neither will millions of Americans who credit their survival and quality of life to scientific miracles."

Kennedy has stated that he is not anti-vaccine but advocates for vaccine safety and informed consent regarding medical decisions.

The founder of one of the country’s most prominent anti-vaccine groups will oversee a vast health portfolio, including vaccine-related policies, amid ongoing public health and safety debates.

SUGGESTION: RFK Jr. and Making America Healthy Again


Politician Robert F. Kennedy Jr. looks on during the UFC 309 event at Madison Square Garden on November 16, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC) (Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)


. Hugo Balta is the executive editor of the Fulcrum and a board member of the Bridge Alliance Education Fund, the parent organization of The Fulcrum.


Latest news

Why Greenland and ICE Could Spell the End of U.S. Empire
Governance & Legislation

Why Greenland and ICE Could Spell the End of U.S. Empire

U.S. Capitol building
Governance & Legislation

Congress Bill Spotlight: SERVE Act, To Undo Trump Renamings

Read More

Family First: How One Program Is Rebuilding System-Impacted Families

Close up holding hands

Getty Images

Family First: How One Program Is Rebuilding System-Impacted Families

“Are you proud of your mother?” Colie Lavar Long, known as Shaka, asked 13-year-old Jade Muñez when he found her waiting at the Georgetown University Law Center. She had come straight from school and was waiting for her mother, Jessica Trejo—who, like Long, is formerly incarcerated—to finish her classes before they would head home together, part of their daily routine.

Muñez said yes, a heartwarming moment for both Long and Trejo, who are friends through their involvement in Georgetown University’s Prisons and Justice Initiative. Trejo recalled that day: “When I came out, [Long] told me, ‘I think it’s awesome that your daughter comes here after school. Any other kid would be like, I'm out of here.’” This mother-daughter bond inspired Long to encourage this kind of family relationship through an initiative he named the Family First program.

Keep ReadingShow less
Wisconsin Bill Would Allow DACA Recipients to Apply for Professional Licenses

American flag, gavil, and book titled: immigration law

Photo provided

Wisconsin Bill Would Allow DACA Recipients to Apply for Professional Licenses

MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin lawmakers from both parties are backing legislation that would allow recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program to apply for professional and occupational licenses, a change they say could help address workforce shortages across the state.

The proposal, Assembly Bill 759, is authored by Republican Rep. Joel Kitchens of Sturgeon Bay and Democratic Rep. Sylvia Ortiz-Velez of Milwaukee. The bill has a companion measure in the Senate, SB 745. Under current Wisconsin law, DACA recipients, often referred to as Dreamers, are barred from receiving professional and occupational licenses, even though they are authorized to work under federal rules. AB 759 would create a state-level exception allowing DACA recipients to obtain licenses if they meet all other qualifications for a profession.

Keep ReadingShow less
Overreach Abroad, Silence at Home
low light photography of armchairs in front of desk
Photo by Joakim Honkasalo on Unsplash

Overreach Abroad, Silence at Home

In March 2024, the Department of Justice secured a hard-won conviction against Juan Orlando Hernández, the former president of Honduras, for trafficking tons of cocaine into the United States. After years of investigation and months of trial preparation, he was formally sentenced on June 26, 2024. Yet on December 1, 2025 — with a single stroke of a pen, and after receiving a flattering letter from prison — President Trump erased the conviction entirely, issuing a full pardon (Congress.gov).

Defending the pardon, the president dismissed the Hernández prosecution as a politically motivated case pursued by the previous administration. But the evidence presented in court — including years of trafficking and tons of cocaine — was not political. It was factual, documented, and proven beyond a reasonable doubt. If the president’s goal is truly to rid the country of drugs, the Hernández pardon is impossible to reconcile with that mission. It was not only a contradiction — it was a betrayal of the justice system itself.

Keep ReadingShow less
America’s Operating System Needs an Update

Congress 202

J. Scott Applewhite/Getty Images

America’s Operating System Needs an Update

As July 4, 2026, approaches, our country’s upcoming Semiquincentennial is less and less of an anniversary party than a stress test. The United States is a 21st-century superpower attempting to navigate a digitized, polarized world with an operating system that hasn’t been meaningfully updated since the mid-20th century.

From my seat on the Ladue School Board in St. Louis County, Missouri, I see the alternative to our national dysfunction daily. I am privileged to witness that effective governance requires—and incentivizes—compromise.

Keep ReadingShow less
© Copyright 2026