HHS Secretary RFK Jr. stops in Phoenix on his Make America Healthy Again tour
PHOENIX (NBC, KYMA/KECY) - Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was in Phoenix Tuesday on his Make America Healthy Again tour.
He was given a hero's welcome at the capitol, but one key politician was not happy to see him there.
"What we're doing to our children is criminal, and we have to stop. We are now the sickest country in the world," Kennedy said.
Arizona was day two of a three-day swing for President Donald Trump's HHS secretary.
Kennedy received a warm welcome in the morning at the tribal self-governance conference, but he received a true hero's welcome at the State Senate in the afternoon.
With several dozen kids in front and their parents to his side, Kennedy praised GOP lawmakers, especially those who passed a bill to prevent low income Arizonans from using food stamps or SNAP to buy sugary soft drinks.
"The taxpayers should not be paying that in a nutrition program. There are no nutrients in that soda. There are none. And why are we paying for that? We should be paying for healthy we're going to pay for it twice. We're going to pay for now and then we're going to pay for it with the diabetes bills later on."
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Health and Human Services Secretary
However, Attorney General Kris Mayes was not part of the welcome wagon: "Today is a sad day to see that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is speaking here at our legislature."
Mayes joined other Democrats and public health leaders to blast Kennedy about an hour before his event at the State Senate.
Kennedy was in Utah on Monday, where he supported Republican lawmakers there in banning fluoride in drinking water.
He now heads to New Mexico as part of his Make America Healthy Again tour.
