WASHINGTON — Four days before Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was supposed to testify before her committee, Sen. Angela Alsobrooks stood outside the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda. She was calling for his resignation.

“We want him to go,” Alsobrooks said to the protesters at the rally. “He never had the qualifications, and he’s lost the confidence of the American people.”

Democrats have largely taken a “see what sticks” approach to opposing President Donald Trump during his second term, employing a barrage of messaging strategies to try to sway public opinion on the president. Alsobrooks has been more surgical. She has repeatedly focused on the actions of one of Trump’s most polarizing allies: RFK Jr., the secretary of Health and Human Services and the face of the Make America Healthy Again movement.

Since Kennedy’s initial confirmation hearings, Alsobrooks has been a recurring critic. Through public events with fired scientists, a Senate resolution lambasting his leadership, and intense face-to-face questioning, Maryland’s junior senator has sought to curate a political resistance against Kennedy’s actions as health secretary.

“I don’t know RFK Jr. as a person,” Alsobrooks told The Baltimore Sun. “But I can watch the decisions he’s made, and that is what I oppose.”

Alsobrooks hasn’t had to look far for constituents who’ve been affected by Kennedy’s decisions at HHS. Roughly 1,250 employees at the National Institutes of Health have been terminated. (Some weren’t supposed to be fired and were asked to return.) That’s in addition to the proposed nearly 40% budget cut to NIH and the potential loss of significant NIH research reimbursements for Maryland universities.

“One of the most powerful things we have in this effort to fight back against the layoffs and the illegal cuts in funding is the stories of our constituents,” Sen. Tammy Baldwin, a Wisconsin Democrat, said. “(Alsobrooks) does an excellent job of uplifting those, amplifying those.”

Those cuts, plus canceled funding for certain programs and Kennedy’s history of discredited medical opinions on vaccines, helped trigger Alsobrooks’ continued march against the secretary’s actions.

“I’ve met many of the people whose jobs he slashed,” Alsobrooks added. “He’s not even aware of many of the cuts that have been made,” referring to Kennedy being unaware of the elimination of certain programs during a recent hearing.

Two days after the Bethesda rally, the first of her “Sick Of It” branded events, Alsobrooks filed a resolution of “no confidence,” a rare measure the Senate can use to chastise federal officials. That same week, Kennedy testified before a Senate committee that Alsobrooks is a member of. She waited two hours for her turn to speak.

The exchange was contentious. Interspersed with interjections and criticisms of Kennedy’s leadership — “You are the wrong person for this job,” she said at one point — she grilled Kennedy on questions from her colleagues that he had evaded earlier in the hearing.

“One of her strengths is how nimble she is,” Sen. Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat, said. “A lot of junior members don’t take advantage of the fact that they get to listen to the entire hearing. We often do a pretty miserable job of picking up on opportunities that are presented earlier in the hearing.”

‘She’s really taken the lead’

Not that Alsobrooks is the only Democratic senator who isn’t a fan of Kennedy. The polarizing activist has long espoused views contradictory to modern science on a swath of issues, from the benefits of fluoride to the safety of vaccines. Democratic senators unanimously opposed his confirmation to become secretary of HHS.

But her challenges to Kennedy’s leadership have often gone a step beyond those of her colleagues. More “Sick Of It” events are expected, and she’s thought to be the only Democratic lawmaker who has called for Kennedy’s resignation.

“She’s really taken the lead on pointing out that RFK Jr. is literally bad for our health as part of her ‘Sick Of It’ tour,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen, Maryland’s senior senator, told The Sun. “So she’s really used her position on that committee effectively.”

Alsobrooks’ call (multiple calls, actually) for resignation went unheeded. Obviously. Kennedy endured a brutal confirmation hearing and intense scrutiny from Republican senators — including from their former leader, Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who was indignant over Kennedy’s views on vaccines. Kennedy survived. And he won’t depart because a Democrat tells him to.

Kennedy: ‘We must spend smarter’

A longtime lawyer and environmentalist, Kennedy was formerly a Democrat himself. For years he worked as an activist focused on environmental and nutritional change. He joined Trump’s circle of influence after ending his independent 2024 presidential campaign, endorsing Trump and later becoming an adviser and campaign surrogate.

As secretary, he has implemented significant structural changes at the department, laying off roughly 10,000 workers and eliminating or restructuring numerous offices and programs, including those that focused on advanced research into Alzheimer’s, cancer, and HIV/AIDS.

Kennedy has frequently defended the breadth of the changes, arguing that a more nimble structure will aid the department’s mission.

“We won’t solve this problem by throwing more money at it; we must spend smarter,” Kennedy said during a recent hearing. “We will shift funding away from bureaucracy and toward direct impact.”

“Let me be clear, we intend to make the Trump HHS not just the most effective, but also the most compassionate in U.S. history,” he added.

Republican sees Alsobrooks’ challenges as ‘political theater’

Some Republicans see Alsobrooks’ challenges to Kennedy’s decisions as performative; an example of a Democrat in the minority trying to stir public antipathy against a key Trump official.

“It’s all political theater for the Democrats right now,” Sen. Markwayne Mullin, an Oklahoma Republican, said. “That’s all it is.”

Alsobrooks insisted that her efforts are rooted in opposing policies that she considers dangerous to the health of the country. New polling data suggests that many Americans share her concerns.

The Pew Research Center released a poll on Thursday that showed a nation conflicted over Kennedy. While 36% approve of his actions, 43% disapprove of how he has led the department; 21% responded that they weren’t sure how they felt about Kennedy’s performance.

“This is not based on politics,” Alsobrooks said. “This is based on his policies.”

_____

©2025 Baltimore Sun. Visit baltimoresun.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.