Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) welcomes RFK Jr. to today's House Approps Committee hearing by ripping 1) his "disastrous" HHS budget request (it cuts $33B from HHS) and 2) his "misinformation and lies" about vaccines.
"Mr. Secretary, you are gutting the life-saving work of the Dept of HHS."
DeLauro lists off various CDC prevention programs that RFK is calling for eliminating in his budget:
HIV
Tobacco
Drowning
Asthma
Lead poisoning
Gun violence
"Why on earth these the places you are terminating for so-called waste?" she asks him.
DeLauro did not come to play. "With respect to views on vaccines, quite frankly, I believe you are promoting quackery."
She lashes him for the measles outbreak that's now spread to 1000 ppl; 3 have died.
"All while you peddle unfounded and dangerous vaccine skepticism, spread lies and misinfo."
"I'm worried," she tells RFK Jr., after naming top experts who have left HHS or been pushed out.
"I'm worried about a future public health crisis that emerges once the Trump administration has fully dismantled the nation's public health system."
DeLauro is still not done -- this is still her opening remarks!
"You claim to be reorganizing NIH. Any reorganizing of NIH must go through the Congress," she tells him.
"Mr. Secretary, you have no lawful authority to undertake this by yourself."
"I do not believe the American people want less cancer research, fewer people tracking infectious diseases, but that is exactly what this budget will deliver," she says.
"We are in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis ... and you and Elon Musk and President Trump are making worse."
DeLauro is done with her opening remarks.
Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.), the subcommittee chairman: "Alright, uh, Mr. Secretary, we look forward to your opening remarks."
LOL
In his opening remarks, RFK tells DeLauro that "we are doing a better job at CDC today than any nation in the world at controlling this measles outbreak. I'm happy to elaborate afterward."
🤔
Aderholt asks RFK what steps HHS is taking to prevent abortions.
"Every abortion is a tragedy," RFK says.
He says he's ended federal $ to overseas programs that fund/counsel abortions + withheld Title X funding from NGOs that don't differentiate their funding streams.
DeLauro offers "an area of correction" to RFK re: measles outbreaks.
She says he keeps comparing U.S. to Europe, but he's referring to WHO European region (53 countries).
"If you compare us to Western Europe countries that we often compare ourselves to...they have seen no measles death this year."
May 14, 2025 14:40(Note: The WHO European region includes 53 countries in Europe and in Asia, including some with low-vaccination rates like Romania that has never eliminated measles.)
DeLauro is very good at this. She's rattling all this stuff off with a calm, reasonable tone but... 🔥
"You say, you want to 'rescale our biomedical research budget.'"
"Excuse me, but that's BS. You are not rescaling NIH research, you are proposing to cut it by TWENTY BILLION dollars."
She holds up a Senate report that found NIH research funding was cut by $2.7 billion this year vs this period last year.
That's a 35% cut, she tells RFK, and includes cuts to cancer research by 31%.
DeLauro: "Are you freezing or withholding funding that Congress appropriated in 2025 for life-saving NIH research?"
RFK goes back to measles. Says we have 1,100 cases in U.S. "Mexico has roughly the same number with 1/3 of our population and 300 extra cases last week. Canada has more measles." 🤔
RFK: Western Europe has about 6,000. You are wrong about what you said earlier.
DeLauro: "I think one has to consider whether or not we're dealing with decades of data proving how effective and safe the measles vaccines is." Asks her Q again.
RFK says he's not withholding any funding that Congress appropriated in 2025 for life-saving NIH research.
He commits to upholding the law: "Of course."
Lots of back and forth about whether RFK will spend the money that Congress appropriated to NIH in 2024, as required by law, versus not spending it because Russ Vought wants to hollow out the govt.
RFK says yes.
"Unbelievable," DeLauro mutters after she goes off. "Unbelievable."
(Ed note: I'm delayed by like 40 mins on this hearing, I've scrolled back to watch DeLauro)
DeLauro: Why did you eliminate CDC's Office of Smoking and Health?
RFK: We're under a court order not to do more reorg at HHS, my attorneys tell me I can't talk about this.
Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) asks RFK if he'd vaccinate his children today for measles:
"For measles?" RFK says, pausing. "Probably for measles."
The HHS secretary says his opinions are irrelevant: "I don't think people should be taking medical advice from me." 😐
RFK says "everybody can make that decision" on whether to get vaccinated and he doesn't want to give his opinions bc "it will seem like I'm giving advice to other people and I don't want to be doing that."
Pocan: "But that's kinda your jurisdiction because CDC does give advice."
How is this real.
Pocan: Would you vaccinate your child for chicken pox?
RFK: "I don’t want to give advice. I can tell you in Europe they don’t use the chicken pox vaccine.”
Pocan: Polio?
RFK: “Again, I don’t want to be giving advice.”
