U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is appearing before a congressional committee Thursday, where he’s expected to face questions about turmoil at federal health agencies.
The U.S. Senate Finance Committee has called Kennedy to a hearing about his plans to “Make America Healthy Again.” But the health secretary is expected to face questions about layoffs and planned budget cuts that detractors say are wrecking the nation’s ability to prevent disease.
Kennedy recently fired Susan Monarez, a longtime government scientist he installed as the CDC director for less than a month and has sought to reshape the nation’s vaccine policies to match his long-standing suspicions about the safety and effectiveness of long-established shots.
Here’s the latest:
Wyden and Kennedy go into overtime
Wyden’s questioning of Kennedy went over the Democrat’s allotted time and had to be gaveled out by the panel’s chairman.
Wyden and Kennedy got into a heated exchange after the senator said the secretary “stacked the deck” of a vaccines committee, replacing scientists with “vaccine skeptics and conspiracy theorists.” Kennedy said his actions “got rid of the conflicts of interests” he said had pervaded such panels.
Kennedy also said he had support from scientists and doctors “all over the country.” Many of the nation’s leading public health and medical societies, including the American Medical Association, American Public Health Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics have decried Kennedy’s policies and warn they’ll drive up rates of vaccine-preventable diseases.
Kennedy claims people at the CDC ‘did not do their job’
Speaking on recent firings at the CDC, Kennedy called attention to a concern he often talks about — the chronic disease epidemic.
“We are the sickest country in the world,” he said. “That’s why we have to fire people at the CDC. They did not do their job.”
He accused the recently ousted director Susan Monarez of lying in her Wall Street Journal op-ed on Thursday when she said she was pressured to preapprove the recommendations of his vaccine advisory panel.
Kennedy calls for ‘new blood’ at the CDC
Toward the end of his opening remarks, Kennedy said he wanted to address “the recent shakeups at CDC,” personnel changes he called “absolutely necessary adjustments to restore the agency to its role as the world’s gold standard.”
Kennedy went on to describe COVID-19-era recommendations and policies he said were implemented “with no science and heightened economic inequality,” like school closures.
Last week, the Trump administration fired the agency’s director Susan Monarez. Several top CDC leaders resigned in protest, leaving the agency in turmoil.
A protestor decried Kennedy’s vaccine stances during the hearing
Just as Kennedy first mentioned vaccine safety standards during his opening remarks, a protestor in a wheelchair shouted at the secretary and challenged whether he understood current policy and research surrounding vaccine safety.
“You’re killing billions of people,” the protestor shouted at the back of the room as they were escorted out by Capitol Police.
Sen. Mike Crapo, the Finance Committee’s chair, warned other attendees from speaking out and disrupting order after the protestor’s removal.
As HHS Secretary, Kennedy has made a a string of decisions that have put the longtime vaccine critic’s doubts about shots into full effect at the nation’s health department.
Wyden tried – and failed – to force a formal swearing-in for Kennedy
As the hearing began, Wyden asked to have Kennedy formally sworn in as a witness, defying tradition, saying the HHS secretary has a history of lying to the Senate Finance Committee.
For example, Wyden said, Kennedy promised he would “do nothing as HHS secretary that makes it difficult or discourages people from taking vaccines.” But under Kennedy, U.S. regulators have limited the availability of COVID-19 vaccines for many Americans.
Crapo denied Wyden’s request, saying despite partisan disagreements among the senators on the committee, “the bottom line is we will let the secretary make his own case.”
Kennedy makes remarks on Georgia officer killed in CDC shooting
Kennedy opened his remarks by expressing condolences for the family of David Rose, a law enforcement officer killed during the Aug. 8 shooting at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters in Atlanta.
A man opened fire outside the agency headquarters, leaving bullet marks in windows across the sprawling campus and killing Rose before being found dead in a nearby building.
Kennedy said he visited with Rose’s family and said he “remains in our prayers.”
Zelenskyy and European leaders hold call with Trump
European leaders took part in a hybrid “Coalition of the Willing” meeting about Ukraine on Thursday and then held a phone call afterward with Trump to update him on their work.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also took part in the call with Trump, according to a person familiar with planning for the call who was not authorized to comment publicly.
“They expressed the hope that the United States would continue to make a substantial contribution to the joint efforts to support Ukraine, formulate security guarantees, and shape a productive diplomatic process,” German government spokesman Stefan Kornelius said in a statement following the meeting, which German Chancellor Friedrich Merz attended virtually.
Merz laid out three “areas of action,” including working toward a summit Zelenskyy would also participate in, and “a ceasefire must be agreed there.”
The White House did not offer any immediate comment.
— Jamey Keaten and Aamer Madhani
Wyden challenges GOP colleagues on their support of Kennedy
The Oregon Democrat asked his Republican Senate colleagues, “What line must Robert Kennedy cross before some of you will also join this alarm?”
Seeking that Kennedy step down, alternatively Wyden called on Trump to “fire him before more people are hurt.”
The hearing has begun
Sen. Mike Crapo of Idaho, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said each senator will get five minutes to question Kennedy. He said he expects a “spirited debate.”
That started right away. While Crapo touted the administration’s “Make America Healthy Again” agenda, the Democratic ranking member, Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, argued Kennedy has prioritized “elevating junk science and fringe conspiracies.”
After entering hearing room, Kennedy greets senators, including Republican Bill Cassidy
Before taking his seat, Kennedy briefly greeted the assembled senators, including Cassidy, a physician eyeing reelection.
The Louisiana Republican’s support was critical to Kennedy’s confirmation, but the two-term senator did publicly express concern about his anti-vaccination positions before voting to confirm Kennedy. This week, Cassidy said he wanted to “carefully frame” his questions to Kennedy at Thursday’s hearing.
Kennedy arrives for Senate hearing
He was greeted by shouted reporter questions — as well as “We love you, Bobby” from supporters in the hallway — as he entered the Senate hearing room.
Kennedy did not answer questions but gave a wave before going inside.
Sen. Thom Tillis on RFK Jr. ahead of his appearance before a congressional committee
Asked if he has confidence in the health secretary, Tillis, a Republican on the committee, said he wants to hear from Kennedy in person.
“He’s got to reconcile what he said during his confirmation process with what we’ve seen over the past few months, particularly on vaccine policy,” Tillis said.
Former CDC director Susan Monarez speaks out after her firing
The longtime government scientist who ran afoul of HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. penned a Wall Street Journal op-ed published Thursday in which she raises concerns about the way ahead for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention following her ouster.
“Public health shouldn’t be partisan. Vaccines have saved millions of lives under administrations of both parties,” Monarez writes. “I was fired for holding that line. But the line doesn’t disappear with me. It runs through every parent deciding whether to vaccinate a child, every physician counseling patients, and every American who demands accountability.”
Monarez was fired and replaced on an acting basis by Kennedy’s top deputy, Jim O’Neill.
The White House said Monarez, who served for only 29 days, was “not aligned with” Trump’s agenda. Monarez’s lawyers said she refused “to rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated health experts.”
Melania Trump will address the White House task force on AI
The first lady will gather with members of the White House Task Force on Artificial Intelligence Education and private sector leaders later today.
Trump’s made online protection of children a central part of her “Be Best” initiative. She said in a statement ahead of today’s meeting that she won’t be surprised if AI becomes the “greatest engine of progress” in U.S. history.
“But, as leaders and parents we must manage AI’s growth responsibly,” she added. “During this primitive stage, it is our duty to treat AI as we would our own children — empowering, but with watchful guidance. We are living in a moment of wonder, and it is our responsibility to prepare America’s children.”
GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy, facing primary challengers, proceeds cautiously on CDC and RFK Jr.
Cassidy’s support was crucial to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s confirmation as Secretary of Health and Human Services. With firings and resignations at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now prompting concern about a leadership breakdown at the nation’s leading public health agency, the Louisiana lawmaker and physician is in a tight spot.
The two-term senator — who publicly expressed concern about Kennedy’s anti-vaccination positions before voting to confirm him — has worried aloud about “serious allegations” at the CDC and has called for oversight, without blaming Kennedy.
But he was choosing his words carefully as he returned to Washington this week after the Senate’s August recess and was preparing to question Kennedy during a finance committee meeting scheduled for Thursday. Cassidy told reporters he hadn’t yet decided what to ask Kennedy, saying, “I want to carefully frame the question.”
▶ Read more about Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy
High-ranking Democrat says RFK Jr. must ‘answer to the public’
In a statement last week, U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon — the highest ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee — said, “It is more imperative than ever that Kennedy answer to the public and their representatives about the chaos, confusion, and harm his actions are inflicting on American families.”
Kennedy’s track record as health secretary
In May, Kennedy — a longtime leader in the anti-vaccine movement — announced COVID-19 vaccines would no longer be recommended for healthy children and pregnant women, a move opposed by medical and public health groups.
In June, he abruptly disbanded a panel of experts that had been advising the government on vaccine policy. He replaced them with a handpicked group that included several vaccine skeptics, and then shut the door to several doctors’ groups that had long helped form the committee’s recommendations.
