HHS Secretary Kennedy Spars with Members of Congress Over HHS Restructuring

In appearances before two important congressional committees on Wednesday, May 14, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Secretary of Health and Human Services, repeatedly sparred with members of Congress over both the current ongoing restructuring of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and over vaccine policy at the health agency.

As Sandhya Raman and Lia DeGroot of Roll Call wrote on Wednesday evening, “Kennedy appeared before two influential panels — the House Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittee [of the House Appropriations Committee] and the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee — that are examining the Trump administration’s $94 billion budget request for the department in fiscal 2026. Kennedy defended that request as well as the government’s response to a measles outbreak and proposed changes to biomedical research. But lawmakers seeking answers on the major reorganization, which included terminating thousands of employees, left without answers,” they wrote.

Raman and DeGroot quoted Kennedy as stating that, “As of 4 o’clock yesterday afternoon, we are under a court order not to do any further planning on the reorganization, and I’ve been advised by my attorneys … not to talk about it,” he told House appropriators, adding that some programs under the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were transferred to the newly formed Administration for a Healthy America. “I’m not permitted to talk in any more detail.”

To read the full article, see "HHS Secretary Kennedy Spars with Members of Congress Over HHS Restructuring," which originally appeared on Healthcare Innovation, an Endeavor Business Media partner site.