Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was pressed on cuts to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), vaccine messaging and the firing of the former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) during a hearing on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The hearing before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health marked the final session of four budget hearings before House lawmakers.<\/p>\n
Research cuts<\/strong><\/p>\n Rep. Lizzie Fletcher, D-Tex., said she was concerned about the loss of federal aid for health research in the Trump administration’s budget request for fiscal year 2027.<\/p>\n “Secretary Kennedy, do you understand that cutting federally funded research as this budget does, will cede U.S. leadership on biomedical research to China and create national security and global competitiveness challenges for the United States?” Fletcher asked Kennedy.<\/p>\n Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testifies before a House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee on Trump’s budget request for the Department of Health and Human Services, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., April 21, 2026.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Jonathan Ernst\/Reuters<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Kennedy acknowledged that he shared Fletcher’s concerns, as the biggest proposed cuts are to NIH and Administration for a Healthy America (AHA) programs.<\/p>\n “I don’t want to cut NIH programs, [Office of Management and Budget Director] Russ Vought doesn’t want to cut NIH programs, but we have a $35 trillion debt,” Kennedy said.<\/p>\n “We have been asked to cut across the board at HHS, 12% of our $100 million budget and so we’re making cuts that are painful,” he told Fletcher.<\/p>\n Vaccine messaging<\/strong><\/p>\n Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Tex., described Kennedy as the most “anti-vax” figure in his lifetime. He suggested that Kennedy’s history of rhetoric denouncing vaccines is correlated with an uptick in measles cases.<\/p>\n Two unvaccinated school-aged children<\/a> died last year from measles — the first U.S. deaths from measles in a decade.<\/p>\n Kennedy has long sown doubt in the safety and effectiveness of the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine. Despite being a required vaccine in all states to attend public school, rates have been steadily decreasing over the last decade, CDC data <\/a>shows.<\/p>\n It comes as vaccine exemptions have risen sharply, with at least 138,000 kindergarteners exempt from one or more vaccines during the most recent school year, CDC data shows.<\/p>\n However,\u00a0in recent weeks, some reports have suggested Kennedy is staying away from vaccine-skeptic rhetoric ahead of the midterm elections.<\/p>\n Veasey and others pressed Kennedy on whether the alleged messaging strategy was directed by the White House. Kennedy denied that it was.<\/p>\n “Is Susie Wiles or anyone in the White House instructing you or suggesting that you stop talking about your controversial vaccine skepticism?” Veasey asked.<\/p>\n “No,” Kennedy replied.<\/p>\n CDC leadership<\/strong><\/p>\n Kennedy defended firing former CDC director Susan Monarez in a lengthy exchange with Rep. Raul Ruiz, D-Calif.<\/p>\n Ruiz criticized Kennedy for ousting Monarez because she allegedly “refused” to approve what Ruiz called the dismantling of the childhood vaccination schedule.<\/p>\n Kennedy aggressively pushed back on the congressman’s characterization.<\/p>\n “That’s not true,” Kennedy said. “What she testified to wasn’t true.”<\/p>\n Kennedy and Monarez both appeared in front of Senate committees last year to address the ousting.\u00a0<\/p>\n At a Senate hearing in September 2025,\u00a0Monarez said<\/a>\u00a0she was fired by Trump and Kennedy for “holding the line on scientific integrity.”<\/p>\n![\"cuts\"](\"https:\/\/i.abcnewsfe.com\/a\/63acf29f-6696-4d11-ac66-7e41240cc999\/kennedy-rt-jef-260421_1776788065373_hpMain.jpg?w=375 "\\"cuts\\"")
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