During a Senate HELP Committee hearing last week, Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) spoke about HHS Secretary Kennedy hiring David Geier, who is not a licensed physician, to conduct studies for the department.
00:00Senator Hassan. Well, thank you, Mr. Chair, and good morning, Mr. O'Neill. It's good to see you
00:05again. Secretary Kennedy has stated that one of his top priorities is to end the fentanyl crisis,
00:12which has devastated countless families in New Hampshire and, as you know, all across the country.
00:17One critical tool we have when we are fighting fentanyl is an overdose reversal medication
00:22called naloxone. Do you agree that it is important for first responders to have access to naloxone?
00:28Thank you. Lovely to see you again, Senator. I've very publicly advocated the approval and
00:36legalization of naloxone for years. And yes, I believe that you never really know when it's
00:44going to be needed. When it is needed, you need it right there. And yes, I think first responders
00:50having it makes a lot of sense. So President Trump has proposed to eliminate a critical program that
00:57arms and trains first responders in my state and across the country with naloxone. So you've just
01:03made the case for why they need to have it. If confirmed, will you use your position to urge
01:08Secretary Kennedy and President Trump to reverse their cuts to naloxone funding for first responders?
01:14Senator, there are probably a lot of ways to ensure that naloxone is deployed locally.
01:19I'm not really sure what the best way to do that is.
01:22I can tell you as a former governor, whose state was devastated when the fentanyl crisis
01:27first began to hit, that it was absolutely critical to have that federal partnership
01:33to help fund naloxone for first responders. State budgets can be sparse, and this is a really
01:39important tool. So I hope you will urge Secretary Kennedy to reverse that, or at least work with states
01:45in a transparent way, to find out what a different way of supporting naloxone supply is. But just to
01:51end it without a plan moving forward, I think will really harm people and may cost us lives.
01:57Now, I also wanted to turn to another issue that I'm deeply concerned about, which is Secretary
02:02Kennedy's decision to hire David Geyer, an individual with a track record of harming children.
02:09Mr. Geyer was disciplined for practicing medicine without a license on children who have autism,
02:14and now Secretary Kennedy is paying Mr. Geyer with taxpayer funds to conduct a study at HHS.
02:22Mr. O'Neill, if confirmed, would you advise the Secretary to fire David Geyer?
02:27Senator, thank you for the question. I've never had any communication with this person. I don't know
02:31him. I would say that all research and research funding decisions and analysis research should
02:39involve multiple people, ideally with different backgrounds, who are allowed to disagree with each
02:43other. Well, I appreciate that. This is, by the way, the department's website that posts Mr. Geyer as
02:50an employee. Do you have concerns about the Secretary employing an individual who has been found
02:58responsible for harming children? Senator, I think that the Secretary is an excellent judge of
03:06personnel and character. He trusted me, and I hope to not let him down if confirmed. And I don't know this
03:14person you mean, so I can't really commit to... Well, what I would like to do is submit, by unanimous consent for the record,
03:21this is the state of Maryland's complaint against Mr. Geyer for practicing medicine without a license on children with autism,
03:29including injecting an eight-year-old with a testosterone suppressant as some kind of
03:37treatment for autism. So it is really concerning, and I hope you will turn your attention to Mr. Geyer because...
03:45Was that a request to put it in the record? Yes, it was a request to put it in the record.
03:49Without objection. Lastly, I guess I'll just finish up this way. I really hope you will look at Mr. Geyer's record, look at the allegations that were proven in this
03:57complaint. He was disciplined for practicing medicine without a license on children with autism, and it is deeply, deeply concerning.
04:07I believe he has no place at the country's premier health agency.
04:13Secretary Kennedy also recently made troubling comments about children with autism. His comments reflected that he understands very little about people who are living with disabilities.
04:24Instead of taking the time to listen to individuals with disabilities and their families,
04:28Secretary Kennedy has moved to shut down programs and fire staff who provide critical support for these families and these individuals with disabilities.
04:38For example, Secretary Kennedy fired staff that run the National Family Caregiver Support Program, a critical resource for people who care for family members with disabilities.
04:48Mr. O'Neill, will the Secretary's actions to gut caregiver support help children with disabilities?
04:55Senator, as you may know, the Secretary has made it a priority to research autism.
05:00We don't know what causes autism. We don't know what caused the recent rise in autism. We don't know the best...
05:06We actually have... Excuse me, I'm running out of time.
05:08We actually have some really good studies that are leading us to understand the multiple causes of autism,
05:14but doing away with caregiving for these families and these children is not going to help them in the way they need.
05:21And I hope the Secretary will reverse course and listen to families. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
