Well being and Human Providers Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is about to testify earlier than two congressional committees on Wednesday to debate, amongst many subjects, the Trump administration’s proposed funds and its affect on HHS.
Kennedy will seem earlier than the Home Appropriations Committee Wednesday morning and the Senate Well being, Schooling, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee within the afternoon.
Final month, the HELP Committee referred to as Kennedy to testify on the restructuring of the division.
In April, HHS started shedding about 10,000 staff and consolidating 28 institutes and facilities into 15 new divisions.
Together with the roughly 10,000 individuals who have left over the previous couple of months via early retirement or deferred resignation applications, the general employees at HHS is predicted to fall from 82,000 to round 62,000 — or a few quarter of its workforce.
In a video assertion posted on X previous to the layoffs, Kennedy stated that he plans to carry to the company a “clear sense of mission to radically enhance the well being of Individuals and to enhance company morale.”
Well being and Human Providers Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks, throughout a press convention within the Roosevelt Room on the White Home, Might 12, 2025.
Nathan Howard/Reuters
Kennedy has defended the cuts as essential to weed out wasteful spending at one in all America’s largest departments, however he has drawn criticism for shedding people who find themselves answerable for regulating tobacco utilization, monitoring lead publicity in kids and diagnosing black lung illness in miners.
The secretary himself has appeared to not find out about a number of the cuts, telling CBS Information final month he was “not acquainted” with a number of cuts cited by the outlet.
Wednesday will mark the primary time Kennedy has testified earlier than Congress since his affirmation hearings in late January, and he could also be pressured to confront statements he made that critics say are proof of guarantees damaged.
Kennedy stated a number of instances throughout his listening to in January that he helps vaccines, though he refused to unequivocally say that vaccines do not trigger autism, regardless of quite a few present research already displaying there isn’t a hyperlink.
“I help the measles vaccine. I help the polio vaccine. I’ll do nothing as HHS secretary that makes it tough or discourages folks from taking both of these vaccines,” Kennedy stated.
Nevertheless, in March, the HHS confirmed that the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention will examine whether or not vaccines trigger autism.
Moreover, within the wake of a number of ongoing measles outbreaks throughout the U.S. and over 1,000 instances up to now this yr, Kennedy has shared contradicting views about vaccines.
In a put up on X on April 6, Kennedy stated that the “only approach to forestall the unfold of measles” is to obtain the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine. Nevertheless, in a put up later that night, he stated greater than 300 kids have been handled with an antibiotic and a steroid, neither of that are acknowledged therapies or cures for measles.
Kennedy’s embrace of anti-vaccine concepts practically put his affirmation in jeopardy, as he confronted resistance from Louisiana Republican Sen. Invoice Cassidy, a doctor who heads the HELP committee. Cassidy expressed issues about Kennedy’s views on vaccines earlier than finally voting to maneuver him via the affirmation course of in February.
Sen. Invoice Cassidy asks secretary of Well being and Human Providers (HHS) nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. questions throughout a Senate Finance Committee affirmation listening to on Capitol Hill, Jan. 29, 2025.
Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Publish by way of Getty Pictures
Cassidy stated, on the time, that Kennedy assured him he wouldn’t alter vaccine coverage with out “ironclad” scientific proof. The senator added that Kennedy and Trump officers promised him an “unprecedentedly shut collaborate working relationship” with the secretary.
At the moment, Cassidy doesn’t consider Kennedy has violated the commitments he made to him, an individual conversant in the senator’s considering informed ABC Information.
The lads communicate a number of instances per week and have maintained a productive relationship, three folks with information of their dynamic stated.
An HHS spokesperson stated Kennedy “maintains knowledgeable and respectful relationship with Senator Cassidy, grounded in a shared dedication to public well being and evidence-based policymaking.”
Cassidy plans to inform Kennedy on Wednesday that the secretary can “set the file straight” about how HHS will “keep its vital duties and implement change essential to Individuals’ well being,” in line with an excerpt of Cassidy’s remarks, which had been obtained by ABC Information.
ABC Information’ Cheyenne Haslett and Anne Flaherty contributed to this report.
