The Health and Human Services secretary will likely have to defend his massive cuts to health care programs and field questions on a range of other health issues.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has some explaining to do.
Nearly four months into his new job, Kennedy Jr. is testifying May 14 before a pair of Congressional committees who are expected to grill one of President Donald Trump’s highest-profile Cabinet members on a range of controversial topics – from proposed budget cuts to his flip-flop on vaccinations as a preventative tool during the nation’s measles outbreak.
Kennedy, who has a history of making controversial remarks about vaccines, recently backed vaccination as a preventive tool during a measles outbreak, but noted that vaccines should be left to parents’ discretion. He’s recently rolled out plans to remove artificial food dyes from the U.S. food supply.
Members of the House Appropriations Committee and the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee are likely to question him about drastic cuts to programs and staffing at Health and Human Services, the department he heads. They may also tackle his push to ban fluoride from drinking water.
President Trump’s $1.7 trillion “skinny budget” proposal for fiscal year 2026 reduces non-defense spending by 23% compared with 2025. The budget seeks $94 billion for the Department of Health and Human Services agencies, a reduction of about 26% from the 2025 level and cuts programs and staff at agencies, including the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
However, the president’s budget aims to pump a $500 million infusion into Kennedy’s Make America Great Again initiative, which is geared towards ending what he calls the “chronic disease epidemic.” The program seeks to tackle the issue through nutrition, physical activity, cutting back on medications and improving food and drug quality and safety.
Americans worry about the Trump administration’s ability to contain an ongoing outbreak of measles, while the vast majority believe that vaccines for the disease are safe, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll.
Just 31% of respondents in the two-day poll agreed with a statement that the administration is handling the measles outbreak responsibly, while 40% disagreed and the rest were unsure or did not answer the question.
The poll comes as Secretary for Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is testifying before a pair of Congressional committees on a range of controversial topics, including vaccines.
The United States is currently facing its largest single outbreak of measles in 25 years, with the number of cases crossing the 1,000 mark as of May 8. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported three deaths, including two unvaccinated children in Texas.
– Reuters
A group from the Alzheimer’s Association of America lined up early outside the House Appropriations Committee meeting room.
Dean Brenner, a volunteer with the association, said they had come to express their opposition to the HHS cuts, which include many Alzheimer’s-related programs and research.
“There are 7 million people over the age of 65 suffering from Alzheimer’s,” Brenner said.
Many in the group, including Brenner, a Washington, D.C. resident, were wearing purple, the official color of the organization. He said he joined the association after his mother died in 2018 from the neurodegenerative disease.
“We just want to make sure we are top of mind for members of Congress,” he said.
– Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy
Last month, Kennedy announced he was banning artificial food dyes, phasing out eight petroleum-based synthetic dyes in the nation’s food supply. Kennedy has long criticized Big Food and Big Pharma, blaming the nation’s “chronic disease epidemic” on additives and junk food.
He’s also directed his department to conduct studies aimed at identifying “environmental toxins” behind the rising rates of autism. His critics have hammered him over his views on vaccines.
Kennedy has also pushed to curb fluoride use in the water supply, saying the chemical used to protect teeth is making Americans “stupider.” He has touted his plan to scale back its use in drinking water.
Kennedy will discuss Trump’s proposed budget in two separate hearings before Congress on May 14. The first meeting is before the House Appropriations Committee at 9:30 a.m. EDT. It is chaired by Rep. Tom Cole (R-Oklahoma.). The ranking member of the committee is Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Connecticut.).
At 1:30 p.m. EDT, Kennedy is scheduled to testify before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. That committee is chaired by Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, is the ranking member on the committee.
