RFK Jr. defends proposed 12% health budget cut, measles response in House testimony

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Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. connected Thursday faced national lawmakers for the archetypal clip since September arsenic helium sought to support a much than 12% projected chopped to his department's fund and dodge arrows from aggravated Democrats on the way.

In his grounds earlier the House Ways and Means Committee, kicking disconnected an expected sprint of 7 fund hearings he'll be crossed legislature committees and subcommittees implicit the adjacent week, Kennedy emphasized the administration's enactment to betterment dietary guidelines and ace down connected waste, fraud and abuse.

Republicans connected the committee praised Kennedy arsenic a "breath of caller air" and asked him to beforehand his department's caller actions. Democrats, who person been furious implicit Kennedy's sweeping overhaul of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, mostly had a antithetic agenda.

They needled Kennedy connected what they viewed arsenic the Trump administration's hypocrisy connected fraud, demanded to cognize wherefore helium was cutting budgets for assorted programs and slammed his efforts to propulsion backmost vaccine recommendations and messaging, which they said person caused unnecessary deaths.

Kennedy fired back, often raising his dependable arsenic helium accused the Democrats of misrepresenting his enactment and past statements.

Here are 3 standout moments from Thursday's hearing.

A standoff implicit measles

One heated speech aboriginal successful the proceeding came betwixt Kennedy and Rep. Linda Sanchez. The California Democrat decried caller measles outbreaks crossed the U.S. and asked Kennedy to reply for the information that nether his leadership, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention pulled backmost nationalist wellness messaging supporting vaccination.

"As a mother, this horrifies me," Sanchez said. "Did President Trump o.k. your determination to extremity CDC's pro-vaccine nationalist messaging campaign?"

Kennedy repeatedly refused to answer, saying archetypal helium wanted to respond to the "misstatements that you've made" and aboriginal praising the Trump administration's grounds connected preventing measles, though protections against the illness person eroded successful immoderate parts of the state arsenic vaccination rates person dropped.

"That's not answering my question," Sanchez said arsenic the 2 talked implicit each other.

But Sanchez besides got Kennedy, a longtime anti-vaccine activistic earlier helium entered politics, to admit that a 6-year-old who died of measles past twelvemonth successful West Texas could person perchance been saved with vaccination.

"Do you hold with the bulk of doctors that the measles vaccine could person saved that child's beingness successful Texas?" she asked.

"It's possible, certainly," Kennedy said.

RFK Jr. denies talking astir Black children being "re-parented"

A combat erupted betwixt Kennedy and Rep. Terri Sewell, a Democrat from Alabama, erstwhile Kennedy vehemently denied making remarks he'd said successful 2024.

The comments dated backmost to erstwhile Kennedy was a statesmanlike candidate. On the "High Level Conversations" podcast past July, helium said, "Psychiatric drugs — which each Black kid is present conscionable modular enactment connected Adderall, SSRIs, benzos, which are known to induce violence, and those kids are going to person a accidental to spell determination and get re-parented to unrecorded successful a assemblage wherever there'll beryllium nary cellphones, nary screens, you'll really person to speech to people."

"Have you ever re-parented, oregon parented, I should say, a Black child?" Sewell asked, arsenic her unit held up a poster featuring an abbreviated mentation of the quote.

"I don't adjacent cognize what that operation means," Kennedy said. "I'm not going to reply thing I didn't say."

"You're making worldly up," helium aboriginal claimed.

A signaling of the podcast shows helium made the comments during a speech astir escaped rehabilitation facilities helium was proposing opening astatine the clip successful agrarian areas astir the country.

HHS spokesperson Emily Hilliard said Kennedy earlier joining the medication was referring to spaces wherever young radical facing alienation, intelligence wellness challenges and despair could get re-parented, which she said was a psychotherapy word for "developing the affectional regulation, discipline, boundaries, and self-worth that whitethorn not person been established successful childhood."

For Kennedy and his erstwhile party, civility is the exception

Kennedy spent astir of his beingness arsenic a Democrat, the scion of 1 of the nation's astir celebrated governmental families. Both Republicans and Democrats during the proceeding began their remarks by expressing their admiration of Kennedy's relatives, among them erstwhile President John F. Kennedy.

But again and again passim Thursday's hearing, the fraying of bonds betwixt Kennedy and his erstwhile enactment was connected afloat show arsenic spiteful comments were passed backmost and forth.

The wellness caput grew antiaircraft and visibly agitated. He repeatedly criticized Democratic lawmakers for not giving him a connection successful edgewise.

"They've each unopen maine up," Kennedy said astatine 1 point. "They springiness a small code that they tin spell and market, you know, for fundraising, and they don't let maine to reply the question."

On a fewer uncommon occasions, the exchanges were civil. One representative, Gwen Moore of Wisconsin, utilized wit to marque that happen.

"I committedness to springiness you easy, comfy questions if you don't outcry astatine maine and wounded my feelings," she told Kennedy. He promised helium wouldn't.

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