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Here's How Much Senate’s Loudest RFK Jr Critics Have Been Paid by Big Pharma

The fiery viral exchange between RFK Jr and Senator Bernie Sanders on Big Pharma money in politics has cast a new light on the Trump HHS pick’s uphill confirmation battle.

Among senators grilling Kennedy hardest in this week's grueling confirmation hearings, here’s who’s gotten the most pharma money via PAC contributions and employee donations between 1990-2024, per calculations by OpenSecrets:

Bernie Sanders: $1.9 mln

Ralph Warnock: $1.76 mln

Patty Murray: $1.6 mln

Chuck Schumer: $1.55 mln

Elizabeth Warren: $1.2 mln. Ironic that she’s recently accused Kennedy of “profiting from anti-vaccine conspiracies.”

Ron Wyden: $1.2 mln

Bill Cassidy: $1.2 mln

Mark Warner: $654,000

Maggie Hassan: $467,000

Catherine Cortez Masto: $537,000

🔥 RFK Jr. FIRES BACK at Bernie Sanders over his Big Pharma ties

💬 “Almost all the members of this panel, INCLUDING YOURSELF, are accepting millions of dollars from the pharmaceutical industry and protecting their interests,” Health and Human Services Secretary nominee Robert… pic.twitter.com/XOK3r0a4LC

— Sputnik (@SputnikInt) January 30, 2025

Bipartisan Consensus

And it’s not just Democrats. OpenSecrets records, which have 307 names on file, show former GOP Senate leader Mitch McConnell got $2 mln, Mitt Romney $3.3 mln, Richard Burr $1.6 mln, the late John McCain $1.4 mln, Bill Cassidy $1.2 mln, and Roy Blunt, John Cornyn and Tim Scott $1.1 mln each over the past three-and-a-half decades.

A 2021 STAT study found that over two-thirds of Congress got a pharma check in 2020, with Pfizer alone contributing to 228 federal campaigns and over 1,000 state races. By last August alone, Big Pharma’s 2024 election PAC war chests hit $37 mln, per BioSpace.

OpenSecrets partial list of top Big Pharma donations to current and former US senators.

Besides lobbying, lawmakers have taken advantage of their jobs to get rich off pharma-related insider trading, with a 2021 Business Insider report finding that 75 made timely investments into the federal Covid response.

Then there’s the combined payouts of healthcare industry, which includes pharma but also insurance, medical device suppliers, etc.

By these accounts, Sanders alone got $23+ mln since 1990, Warnock $14.7 mln, Warren $10.4 mln, Wyden $6.7 mln, Tim Kaine $3.3 mln, Ed Markey $2.3 mln, Patty Murray $5.8 mln, Tammy Baldwin $4.9 mln, etc.

Chart compiled by @MidwesternDoc based on OpenSecrets data on healthcare industry contributions to US lawmakers.

Media Onboard Too

Major outlets aren’t running anti-RFK hit pieces for free. Dr. Leana Wen, author of a recent WaPo piece trashing Kennedy, received over $1.1 mln from Big Pharma over her career.

🚨🇺🇸 WASHINGTON POST'S HIT PIECE ON RFK JR. WRITTEN BY A PHARMA-FUNDED DOCTOR

The Washington Post just published a scathing article attacking @RobertKennedyJr written by Dr. Leana Wen—who has reportedly been paid over $1 million by pharmaceutical companies.

No disclosure, no… https://t.co/S41JVzNZPU pic.twitter.com/7bUC7Qfva5

— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) February 2, 2025

In 2021, MintPress News calculated that active Big Pharma cheerleader Bill Gates has given nearly $320 mln to media over the years to ensure favorable coverage of himself and the initiatives he's pushing, including as it relates to the pharmaceutical industry.