Senator Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM) took Thursday’s Senate Finance Committee hearing in a bizarre direction when he claimed that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was not “worthy” of a starfish pin he claimed he’d received from someone in his home state.

Lujan claimed that he’d been given the pin at a town hall in New Mexico, and said that it was supposed to stand for the idea that even the smallest thing – or the smallest action — could make a difference in the world. Kennedy, he then argued, was not “worthy” of wearing such a symbol.

WATCH:

“I’m sorry you are not worthy of this nice little pin.”

“I was going to give it to you today, but I don’t think you deserve it.”

Senator Ben Ray Luján makes a fool of himself in bizarre moment with starfish pin during hearing. Not sure how RFK Jr. will survive this. pic.twitter.com/iMXdKR153O

— Thomas Hern (@ThomasMHern) September 4, 2025

“Look, two young ladies in Las Cruces, New Mexico, at a town hall recently gave me this starfish pin,” he said, removing it from his lapel and holding it up. “I was going to give it to you today, but after your questioning today, I don’t think you deserve it.”

“Because what this represents is to remember that every one of us can make a difference, sir,” Lujan continued. “Something as small as a starfish on a beach that maybe got washed up, you throw it back in the ocean. You might not save them all, but you can save one.”

“I’m sorry that you’re not worthy of this nice little pin, sir, as a nice reminder,” he added. “I’m going to pray for you, Secretary Kennedy, I hope we do better. I want you to do better. But today was a failure for you, man.”

Kennedy spent the majority of Thursday’s hearing listening as the committee’s Democrats testified in his place, asking only a few contentious questions before talking over him and refusing to let him answer.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired back at Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) in the early moments of what turned out to be a very contentious Capitol Hill hearing on Thursday, exclaiming at one point, “Do I get a reply?”

Throughout the Senate Finance Committee hearing, Kennedy fielded a number of pointed questions about recent shake-ups at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and his complete overhaul of the panel meant to make recommendations on vaccines — and numerous senators used their time to effectively offer their own testimony in place of his, routinely leaving him barely enough time to answer yes-or-no questions.

Wyden, after using some of his time to complain that Kennedy was “politicizing” the committee that recommends vaccines, accused him of compromising children’s health.

“[You’re] enacting an agenda that I think is fundamentally cruel and defies common sense,” Wyden claimed, before ceding the floor back to the committee chair.

WATCH:

🚨 HOLY CRAP! RFK Jr. just absolutely EVISCERATED Democrat Senator Ron Wyden

“Senator, you’ve sat in that chair for how long? 20, 25 years? While the chronic disease in our children went up to 76%. And you said NOTHING. You never ASKED the question why it’s happening!”

🔥 pic.twitter.com/kFDt8ErDS6

— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) September 4, 2025

“Do I get a reply?” Kennedy asked then, and after apparently getting the go-ahead to respond, he directed his comments at Wyden. “Senator, you’ve sat in that chair for how long? 20, 25 years? While the chronic disease in our children went up to 76%. And you said nothing. You never asked the question why it’s happening, why is this happening?”

“Today, for the first time in 20 years, we learned that infant mortality has increased in our country,” Kennedy continued. “It’s not because I came in here. It’s because of what happened during the Biden administration that we’re going to end.”