US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had one other lengthy day on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, with lawmakers questioning him on his vaccine views, company shakeups and a proposed finances that may slash HHS spending on medical analysis and public well being.
The secretary made his fourth and fifth appearances earlier than congressional committees in lower than per week, testifying earlier than a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee earlier than heading to a Senate Appropriations subcommittee.
As he had in three-hour periods final week, Kennedy defended the administration’s finances proposal and his reforms. But he additionally confronted some contemporary questions, particularly about President Donald Trump’s new decide to guide the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — and whether or not the White House has sought to rope in his vaccine rhetoric.
Kennedy will testify earlier than two extra Senate committees on Wednesday; the afternoon session, with the Senate Health Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, is predicted to be the highest-profile listening to of the marathon stretch.
Here are the highlights from Kennedy’s third day of finances discussions on Capitol Hill.
Trump named a nominee to guide the beleaguered CDC on Thursday, practically eight months after the administration ousted Dr. Susan Monarez from the function over her refusal to rubber-stamp Kennedy’s vaccine choices.
The nominee, Dr. Erica Schwartz, is a veteran of public well being service and served as deputy surgeon basic within the president’s first administration. Her nomination was met with cautious assist from public well being advocates, who questioned whether or not she could be allowed to guide the company with out interference.
Rep. Raul Ruiz had comparable questions at Tuesday’s listening to. The California Democrat pressed Kennedy on what drove Monarez’s firing and whether or not Schwartz would meet the identical stress.
“Mr. Secretary, if Dr. Schwartz is confirmed, will you commit on the record today to implement whatever vaccine guidance she issues without interference?” Ruiz requested.
Kennedy replied: “I’m not going to make that kind of commitment.”
Kennedy additionally denied that Monarez was fired due to clashes over vaccine coverage, saying — as he has earlier than — that the scientist advised him she was untrustworthy.
Monarez denied that version of events in a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee listening to in September. The situation — and Schwartz’s autonomy if confirmed — is for certain to come back up in that committee’s listening to Wednesday, since that panel holds the votes to verify well being care nominees just like the CDC director.
Vaccines and measles outbreak stay a spotlight
Kennedy couldn’t escape questions Tuesday about his stance on vaccine security and the way that will have fueled a pointy rise in measles circumstances within the US. As in earlier hearings, the secretary denied that his vaccine views performed a job in declining vaccination charges and disputed that he has been anti-vaccine.
“The problem is not me. There are people in this country who do not vaccinate,” Kennedy stated through the House listening to.
US circumstances of measles surged to a record high in 2025; the federal government has recorded more than 1,700 cases thus far this 12 months.
Amid questions on vaccine coverage modifications — akin to a proposal to delay hepatitis B vaccination from infancy to age 12 — Kennedy insisted that he’s not towards vaccines however needs extra security research.
Vaccines are examined in a number of the largest medical trials of pharmaceutical merchandise, typically involving tens of millions of trial members. They are additionally continuously monitored for safety after approval.
Rates of hepatitis B fell dramatically for the reason that first vaccine launched greater than 4 a long time in the past, however federal information suggests that there have been more than 2,000 new cases within the US final 12 months.
Kennedy additionally indicated that he’s soliciting new members for a key panel of company advisers: the US Preventive Services Task Force, which recommends screenings for most cancers, diabetes and coronary heart ailments, behavioral counseling and different preventive care. Under the Affordable Care Act, insurers should cowl preventive providers that get an A or B grade from the group for gratis to sufferers.
“One of the things that we’re working on right now is to reform the United States Preventive Service Task Force,” he advised the House committee, including {that a} discover can be put within the Federal Register this week. “That task force has been lackadaisical. It’s not been doing its job. If it had been doing its job, we would have early screening for Alzheimer’s.”
The process pressure has not met for greater than a 12 months and has been unable to advance suggestions which are underneath assessment or in improvement, regarding many preventive care consultants. Five of its 16 members’ phrases expired on January 1.
The USPSTF shakeup comes after Kennedy overhauled the company’s highest-profile vaccine advisory group, the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. Kennedy, a longtime vaccine skeptic, changed the entire committee’s members final 12 months. The new panel voted to abandon universal hepatitis B vaccination for newborns; positioned restrictions on a mix shot that protects towards chickenpox in addition to measles, mumps and rubella; and took the unprecedented step of not universally recommending Covid-19 vaccinations, as a substitute making it a matter of private selection.
After being hammered by a number of Democratic lawmakers in regards to the Trump administration’s cuts to Medicaid, Kennedy insisted that no cuts are happening.
Kennedy repeatedly stated throughout a number of hearings that “there have been no cuts to Medicaid,” insisting that any lack of protection was for ineligible folks akin to unlawful immigrants.
He pointed on Tuesday to a Congressional Budget Office report that he argued exhibits federal spending on the crucial security internet program would enhance in coming years.
Federal spending on Medicaid is forecast to develop from $708 billion this 12 months to $941 billion in 2035, in line with the CBO’s newest projection. But it could have elevated much more had congressional Republicans not authorized the One Big Beautiful Bill Act final summer time – to simply over $1 trillion in 2035, the CBO estimated previous to the legislation’s enactment.
The “big, beautiful bill” – which implements the first-ever work requirement in Medicaid and limits states’ potential to finance this system, amongst different modifications – is predicted to slash spending on Medicaid by a complete of $1.2 trillion between 2026 and 2035, the CBO projected. The historic minimize means the protection internet program received’t be capable to sustain with prices, which may pressure states to additional prohibit eligibility or advantages, consultants have stated.
The Republican package deal is predicted to scale back Medicaid enrollment by 13.1 million folks in 2035, the CBO estimates.
Questions about maternal and ladies’s well being persist
Maternal well being care and the nation’s excessive price of maternal deaths — significantly amongst Black ladies — have been a contentious level between Kennedy and Democrats for the reason that first hearings final week. Lawmakers together with Pennsylvania Rep. Summer Lee have pressed Kennedy on how cuts to variety, fairness and inclusion applications have affected efforts to handle these disparities.
On Tuesday, Maine Republican Susan Collins joined these lawmakers.
“It appears that the administration is looking at these health disparities and is not looking at them — is pulling back from these grants instead of figuring out why these health disparities exist and how to address them,” Collins stated.
Kennedy has maintained that this administration has made probably the most enhancements to maternal well being applications in historical past.
“You’re right, we have the worst maternal health outcomes of any of the Western countries, and Black women are 2.6 times more likely” to die in being pregnant and childbirth than White ladies, Kennedy stated Tuesday. He pointed to a perinatal pilot program that he stated has decreased the speed of maternal mortality by 42%. When requested about that discount, HHS directed NCS to a report that discovered a 41.5% decline in deaths throughout hospital stays for childbirth amongst 250 hospitals over a number of years, via a program began in 2020.
Lee had requested Friday what share of that drop had been amongst Black ladies.
“It helps everybody,” Kennedy stated.
Over the course of this month’s HHS finances hearings, three Democrats have pulled the well being secretary into questions in regards to the ongoing battle in Iran, questioning each the price of the battle and President Donald Trump’s psychological acuity.
“In Trump’s America, we can’t afford health care, but apparently we can spend a billion dollars a day in a war with Iran,” stated Frank Pallone of New Jersey, rating member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, on Tuesday. “Do you believe that further cuts to health care programs, including Medicare, Medicaid and the ACA, are necessary in order to pay for Trump’s ongoing war with Iran?”
Kennedy once more stated there have been no Medicaid cuts.
A very heated exchange got here Friday, when Rep. Mark Takano, a Democrat from California, learn out Trump’s social media posts about Iran and requested Kennedy if he was mentally match for workplace.
“The president is a bargainer, and he knows how to make good deals,” Kennedy stated. He later advised the committee that Trump is “very, very sane.”