By Josh Nathan-Kazis

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the secretary of Health and Human Services, is testifying on Capitol Hill on Wednesday for the first time since he announced a sweeping plan to cut 10,000 federal jobs across his department and reshuffle the federal government's health agencies.

Since then, there have been major changes at the Food and Drug Administration, huge disruptions in the academic labs that rely on the National Institutes of Health for funding, and a worsening measles outbreak that's become a growing worry for Americans.

Kennedy appeared at a morning hearing of the House Appropriations Committee, and is set to speak to the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee in the afternoon.

The Senate HELP committee hearing, scheduled for 1 p.m., will be the day's big event.

That committee's chairman, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R., La.), a medical doctor, appeared skeptical of Kennedy's nomination during the confirmation hearings early this year. Cassidy eventually voted in favor of confirming him, saying Kennedy had made concessions to him on vaccine policy.

A reversal on Kennedy from Cassidy could pose significant political problems for the administration, which has a narrow majority in the Senate. Whether Cassidy chooses to grill Kennedy on issues like his handling of the measles outbreak, or takes a more conciliatory approach, could indicate how Cassidy is feeling about his decision to back Kennedy and whether he plans to challenge his initiatives.

At the hearing, Kennedy is expected to defend of a Trump administration budget proposal that suggests deep cuts across the agency he leads. The proposal would cut $18 billion from the budget of the National Institutes of Health, $1.1 billion from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and $3.6 billion from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"We must remake the government to maximize efficiency and productivity in order to fulfill the President's promise to Make America Healthy Again," Kennedy wrote in prepared remarks released ahead of the House hearing.

As the House committee hearing opened, Kennedy defended his department's handling of the measles outbreak. The CDC has confirmed 1,001 cases so far this year as of May 31, across 31 states. "We are doing a better job at CDC today than any nation in the world at controlling this measles outbreak," he said. Kennedy, a prominent antivaccine activist, has called the measles vaccine "the most effective way to prevent the spread of measles," but has also said there "are problems with the vaccine."

In response to a question from Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D., Conn.), the House appropriation committee's ranking member, Kennedy suggested the measles problem in the U.S. isn't as bad as it is in other nations. "We have about 1,100 measles cases in this country," Kennedy said. "Mexico has roughly the same number with a third of our population....Canada has more measles, 1,500. They have one-eighth of our population."

Write to Josh Nathan-Kazis at josh.nathan-kazis@barrons.com

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May 14, 2025 10:44 ET (14:44 GMT)

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