RFK Jr. Fires Back At Rosa DeLauro Over Her Critique Of His Handling Of Measles Outbreaks

Forbes Breaking News

At a House Appropriations Committee hearing on Wednesday, Sec. RFK Jr. spoke about the work being done at HHS and the critiques about measles outbreaks.

Transcript

00:00Thank you, Ranking Member DeLauro and members of the committee.

00:06I'm honored to appear before you today to present the Department of Health and Human

00:10Services fiscal year 2026 budget.

00:14Debilitating disease, contaminated food, toxic environments, addiction, mental health, illness

00:20affect families across every race, class, and political belief.

00:26When my team and I took the helm at HHS, we set out with clear goals.

00:30First, we aimed to make America healthy again with a special focus on the chronic disease

00:37epidemic.

00:38Second, we committed to delivering more efficient, responsive, and effective services to the over

00:44100 million Americans who rely on Medicare, Medicaid, and other programs.

00:50Third, we focused on achieving these goals by cutting costs to taxpayers.

00:55We intend to do more, a lot more, with less.

01:00The budget I'm presenting today supports these goals and reflects two enduring American values,

01:05compassion and responsibility.

01:08I invite the committee to unite around these ideals with me.

01:12The United States remains the sickest developed nation and we spend $4.5 trillion annually on

01:19health care, two to three times more per capita than comparable nations.

01:25Clearly, something is structurally and systematically, systemically wrong with our approach.

01:32Furthermore, health care costs are steadily increasing at a rate 2% greater than the economy.

01:38If we don't staunch this unsustainable hemorrhage, we will ransom our children to bankruptcy, servitude,

01:48and disastrous health consequences.

01:50Yes, an exploding debt is a social determinant of health.

01:56We won't solve this problem by throwing more money at it.

01:59We must spend smarter.

02:02We will shift funding away from bureaucracy toward direct impact.

02:07Some things at HHS will not change.

02:09We will preserve legacy programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and Head Start as the foundation of

02:15the Maha Agenda.

02:17Vulnerable populations, seniors, and veterans deserve consistent access to care and I will ensure

02:22that they receive it.

02:25Today, 83 million Americans, urban and rural, lack adequate access to primary care physicians.

02:32We will prioritize these families, especially Native Americans and Alaskan communities.

02:38We will protect IHS funding, streamline its operations, and give the tribes more autonomy for managing

02:45their resources.

02:47Let me be clear.

02:48We intend to make the Trump HHS not just the most effective but also the most compassionate

02:54in U.S. history.

02:56Our official budget statement outlines many priorities, but I will highlight a few.

03:01First, we will consolidate programs to better tackle mental health and addiction.

03:07These issues now rival chronic disease and their impact.

03:10HHS will aggressively combat the opioid crisis, especially the spread of synthetic drugs like

03:17fentanyl.

03:18First, we will empower state, local, and tribal leaders to create effective solutions.

03:25Second, we will address nutrition, physical activity, and healthy lifestyles.

03:29The present budget requests $94 billion in discretionary funds to support these priorities, including the

03:36Administration for a Healthy America.

03:38Second, we will emphasize healthy eating and Head Start and ensure the program continues to

03:43serve its 750,000 children and parents effectively.

03:48Third, we will equip the FDA to expand its food safety efforts through research, regulations,

03:54independence, and education to remove harmful chemicals from food and packaging, and we are

04:00already doing this more aggressively than any other administration in history.

04:05We will fund cutting-edge research at the NIH while cutting risky or nonessential services.

04:13That includes ending of gain-of-function experiments and research based upon radical gender ideology.

04:21At the CDC, we will return to its core missions, tracking disease, investigating outbreaks, and sustaining

04:28public health infrastructure while cutting waste.

04:31And I will add, in response to your critique about the measles, we are doing a better job

04:39at CDC today than any nation in the world at controlling this measles outbreak.

04:44I am happy to elaborate on that afterward.

04:46Fifth, we will eliminate DEI funding and redirect resources toward real poverty reduction.

04:55We will move beyond lip service to communities of color and take meaningful action to meet

05:02their needs.

05:03Sixth, we will strengthen cybersecurity and health IT.

05:07The AI revolution has arrived, and we are already using these new technologies to manage

05:13healthcare data more efficiently and securely.

05:17Finally, we will rebuild public trust, trust that eroded through years of industry capture,

05:24corruption, waste, and misplaced priorities, including by some of the gentlemen that you

05:29just mentioned, ranking member.

05:32We will launch a new era of transparency in public service, creating an honest, science-driven

05:38policy, and the UHHS, and answers to the President, to Congress, and to the American people.

05:44I look forward to working with Congress to pursue this mission together as a bipartisan

05:50cause.

05:51Let's work side by side to make America healthy again.

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