U.S. Health and Human Services Department Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was on Capitol Hill Thursday for hearings about his department’s 2026 budget. While there, he sparred with two members of Connecticut’s federal delegation.
RFK Jr. first got into a heated debate with U.S. Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-5), who argued that he was breaking the law by cutting funding that Congress had appropriated.
“The 2024 budget includes funding for the NIH. Will you commit to spending the money that is in 2024 on that budget?” DeLauro asked.
“As I said, Ranking Member, if you appropriate the money, I'm going to spend that money,” Kennedy said.
“The money has been appropriated,” DeLauro replied. “If you're not willing to accept the funds that have been lawfully voted by members of the House and Senate, on the money for the National Institutes of Health. Well, I'm going to hold you to your word that that funding is there; it should be transferred from 2024 to 2025. You've cut, already, $20 billion. Let's get that money back. You have an obligation to carry out the law and to implement what Congress has done.”
“Unbelievable,” DeLauro said as she shuffled papers and prepared to move on to the next topic. “Unbelievable.”
In his opening statement, Kennedy defended the president’s plan to cut government waste, fraud, and abuse.
“Protecting the health of Americans has to be done hand in hand with protecting our nation’s fiscal health; they rely on each other,” Kennedy said.
Earlier this month, President Donald Trump (R) released his "skinny budget" proposal, calling for a 23% reduction in non-defense spending. He's expected to ask for specific agency cuts in the next few weeks.
After he left the House of Representatives, Kennedy got into it with Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT). This time, the topic was vaccines.
As recently as March, the HHS secretary claimed the Measles vaccine caused deaths, which is not backed by scientific evidence. More than 1,000 people in the U.S. have been diagnosed with measles over the last few months.
“What I pledged before this committee during my confirmation is that I would tell the truth, that I would have radical transparency,” Kennedy said. “I'm going to tell the truth about everything we know and we don't know about vaccines.”
“Are you recommending the measles vaccine or not?” Murphy asked.
“I am not going to just tell people everything is safe and effective. If I know there are issues, I need to respect people’s intelligence,” Kennedy answered.
