Yo, so check it out. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is getting ready to spill the tea before the Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday. He’s gonna be grilled about a bunch of stuff he already got grilled about last week during some heated congressional hearings. The focus of Tuesday’s pow-wow is on President Donald Trump’s budget request for the Department of Health and Human Services, but you already know they’re gonna dig into Kennedy’s thoughts on vaccines and his support for banning fluoride. Not to mention, they’ll be talking about the major cuts to his department led by DOGE. The White House wants to slash HHS’ budget by a whopping 26%, hitting important offices like the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention the hardest. They’re looking at cutting nearly $18 billion from the NIH’s funds compared to 2025 levels. Kennedy pulled up to the House Appropriations and Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committees last week, and when they asked him about the safety and effectiveness of vaccines, he straight up refused to give a straight answer. When they asked if he would vaccinate a child against measles today, Kennedy took a minute before saying, “Maybe for measles.” He’s out here saying his vaccine opinions don’t even matter, like, okay, then why are we even here, bro?
Who’s Who and What’s What
So, Kennedy is out here promoting all sorts of wack ideas about vaccines and spreading false info, especially during a measles outbreak. The U.S. has already seen over 1,000 reported measles cases this year, according to NBC News. And on top of that, Kennedy is all about pushing unproven treatments for measles and talking smack about vaccine testing. Sen. Bill Cassidy from Louisiana, who’s a doctor and heads the HELP Committee, had to step in and set the record straight on some of Kennedy’s vaccine comments last week. He had to school Kennedy on how vaccines are actually tested. HHS isn’t playing around, either. They’re cutting down their workforce and rearranging divisions and offices. In March, they announced they were slashing their employee count from 82,000 to 62,000 full-timers. They also said they’re gonna reduce the number of divisions and offices to make things more streamlined. So, yeah, big changes are happening over at HHS, and Kennedy is right in the thick of it all.
What’s the Deal with HHS?
HHS is going through some major changes, y’all. They’re looking at cutting down on staff and reorganizing things left and right. In a news release back in March, they spilled the deets about reducing their workforce and slimming down their divisions and offices. The goal? To make things run smoother and more efficient, apparently. With all these changes going down, it’s no wonder Kennedy is gonna be in the hot seat at that Senate hearing. People wanna know what’s up with the budget cuts, the vaccine skepticism, and all that jazz. But hey, maybe it’s just me, but what’s the deal with all this vaccine drama? Like, do people really need to be sweating over Kennedy’s opinions on vaccines? I mean, there are bigger fish to fry, right? But hey, that’s just my two cents. At the end of the day, HHS is making moves, Kennedy is causing a stir, and the Senate Appropriations Committee is about to get lit. Stay tuned, folks.
