The Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is scheduled to testify before two congressional committees on Wednesday to chat about a bunch of stuff, including the impact of the Trump administration’s proposed budget on HHS. Kennedy will show up before the House Appropriations Committee in the morning and the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee in the afternoon. Last month, the HELP Committee asked Kennedy to testify about the department’s restructuring. In April, HHS started laying off about 10,000 workers and merging 28 institutes and centers into 15 new divisions. With the folks who have left recently through early retirement or deferred resignation programs, the total staff at HHS is expected to drop from 82,000 to around 62,000 — that’s like a quarter of its workforce gone!
Kennedy claims these cuts are necessary to get rid of wasteful spending at one of America’s biggest departments, but he’s getting heat for axing people who oversee regulating tobacco usage, monitoring lead exposure in kids, and diagnosing black lung disease in miners. The secretary himself seems a bit clueless about some of the cuts, telling CBS News last month that he wasn’t “familiar” with a few cuts mentioned by the outlet. On Wednesday, Kennedy will testify before Congress for the first time since his confirmation hearings in late January. He might have to face some backlash for statements critics think show he’s not keeping his promises. Kennedy said multiple times during his January hearing that he’s all for vaccines, but he wouldn’t flat-out say vaccines don’t cause autism, even though tons of studies already show there’s no connection.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will look into whether vaccines cause autism, HHS confirmed in March. With over 1,000 measles cases so far this year in the U.S., Kennedy has shared some mixed thoughts on vaccines. On April 6, he said getting the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine is the “most effective way to prevent the spread of measles.” But later that day, he mentioned over 300 kids being treated with an antibiotic and a steroid, neither of which actually treat or cure measles. Kennedy’s flirtation with anti-vaccine ideas almost derailed his confirmation, with pushback from Louisiana Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, a doc who leads the HELP committee. Cassidy had concerns about Kennedy’s vaccine views before finally voting him through the confirmation process in February. Kennedy promised Cassidy he wouldn’t mess with vaccine policy without solid scientific proof, and he and Trump officials assured Cassidy they’d have a super close working relationship with the secretary.
Currently, Cassidy doesn’t think Kennedy has gone back on his word, a source familiar with the senator’s thoughts told ABC News. The two chat multiple times a week and keep up a solid relationship, according to three people in the know. An HHS spokesperson said Kennedy and Cassidy have a “professional and respectful relationship” rooted in a shared dedication to public health and evidence-based policymaking. Cassidy plans to tell Kennedy on Wednesday to set the record straight about how HHS will handle its important tasks and make health changes that matter to Americans. So, it looks like Kennedy has a busy day ahead, facing the music for some of the choices he’s made since taking the helm at HHS.
