Things Get Heated When RFK Jr., Bonnie Watson Coleman Clash About Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program

At a House Appropriations Committee hearing on Wednesday, Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ) questioned Sec. RFK Jr. about LIHEAP.

Transcript

00:00Ms. Watson Coleman. Thank you, Chairman. Mr. Secretary. Few things enrage me more than the

00:09racist attacks I see this administration carrying out by embarking on an ignorant crusade to rid

00:15the government of any programs that are working to improve the lives of black Americans. The

00:21administration has moved to ban the words black, race, bias, minority, oppression, prejudice,

00:28discrimination, disparity, and racism. Any grant application on federal programs that include

00:36these words had them immediately stripped. It is painfully clear to me that this in doing this,

00:43this administration that you work with and work for is attempting to legitimize racial discrimination

00:49and that, sir, is a moral disgrace. It is not woke to improve the health and well-being of black people

00:57who are despairingly impacted by just about every health issue. It should not be controversial

01:10to make right a health care system that was not built to help people like me, to take my concerns,

01:17my pain, my health, very seriously in this country. Black women die from childbirth, complications at a

01:25higher rate in this country than any other high-income country. And last year, where there was overall

01:32maternal deaths dropping in this country, well, black women maternal deaths rose. This sickens me and it

01:40tells me that our government has so much more that we must do to focus on improving the lives of black women,

01:47not less. Your decision and justifications are damning, uh, and troubling, particularly for

01:56destructive impacts your choices and benefits will have on poor and minority, uh, people. So, tell me, sir,

02:05how will eliminating minority health offices, how will eliminating initiatives and programs across the

02:14department that were created to look at the disparity in health care and the need to give greater attention

02:23to the fact that black folks experienced in health care was very damaging, was very different? How

02:31exactly will HHS banning the words that we use to describe ourselves make us healthier? Uh, congressman,

02:40president Trump's vision of this country is the same as Martin Luther King's, that we should have a

02:46colorblind administration. Uh, president Trump is deeply concerned about the maternal health crisis

02:52and the fact that black mothers, uh, are more likely to die in childbirth 2.6 times, uh, 260 percent more likely to die in.

03:03Excuse me, sir, let me claim my time because I don't need this rhetoric about Donald Trump and the lie

03:10that he cares about me and black people. What I want to know is the proposals. I'm claiming my time,

03:17sir, reclaiming it. I want to know specifically how do you intend to address those disparities

03:28and to overcome those disparities as it relates to black health in this country with the changes that

03:37you decided are important or someone has decided for you? I don't know, um, with your department.

03:43Uh, specifically, sir. I've spent a lifetime working on those priorities and I continue to do so.

03:50We have eight divisions, eight programs for minority health at HHS. We've closed one of those offices.

03:58We're maintaining the other seven. We have 42 programs for maternal health. We're going to close a couple of

04:05them and consolidate them. We're going to still spend 1.7 billion dollars a year. The commitment

04:11is there. We're just reorganizing. Okay. You know what? And the impact of reorganization is something

04:17that I shall continually ask you to show me. So please let me warn you now. I welcome those inquiries.

04:25And I don't want rhetoric. I want numbers. The other thing that really troubles me, sir,

04:31is LIHEAP. It is a program specifically to address the needs of low-income and minority families

04:39as it relates to heating and even air conditioning. Why, why, why, why? And what is your

04:49rationale for eliminating that program specifically? Why, why, why?

04:56I'm very committed to LIHEAP. My brother ran a low. I don't care about your past. I care about your

05:05functioning in this department, in this administration right now in response to this question.

05:13My time has expired. Oh, well then so has your legitimacy. I yield back.