Rosa DeLauro And Sec. RFK Jr. Go At It Over Handling Of Measles Outbreaks: 'You Are Wrong'

Forbes Breaking News

At a House Appropriations Committee hearing on Wednesday, Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) questioned Sec. RFK Jr. about his handling of measles outbreaks in the US.

Transcript

00:00The ranking member, Ms. Delauro.

00:02Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

00:04Let me just one area of correction

00:06which has to do with the measles issue, Mr. Secretary.

00:09You keep comparing the U.S. to other countries.

00:13You compare us to Europe.

00:14But the Europe you are referring to is the WHO European region.

00:19That's 53 countries in Europe and in Asia,

00:21including those with low vaccination rates like Romania.

00:25That has never eliminated measles.

00:27If you compare us to Western Europe countries,

00:29that we often compare ourselves to, like Great Britain,

00:32they have seen no measles death this year.

00:34Let me move to the NIH.

00:37In your testimony, you say you want to quote,

00:41and I quote,

00:42rescale our biomedical research budget, unquote.

00:45Excuse me, but that's BS.

00:47You are not rescaling NIH research.

00:49You are proposing to cut it by $20 billion.

00:52And according to our colleagues in the Senate,

00:54NIH has effectively cut research funding by $2.7 billion.

00:59This year in comparison to the same period last year.

01:03That's a cut of 35% during that period.

01:05That includes cutting cancer research by 31%.

01:09This is the report put out by the Senate.

01:11Trump's war on science,

01:13which goes into detail about how we are,

01:17in fact, dealing with cutting scientific research.

01:21Mr. Secretary, are you freezing or withholding funding

01:25that Congress appropriated in 2025

01:28for life-saving NIH research?

01:31Let me address your first issue first,

01:37because I want to correct you.

01:39We have about 1,100 measles cases in this country.

01:43The growth rate last year was 15 additional,

01:45so we have plateaued.

01:48Mexico has roughly the same number

01:50with a third of our population,

01:52and they got 300 extra cases last week.

01:56Canada has more measles, 1,500.

02:00They have one-eighth of our population.

02:03Your Western Europe has about 6,000,

02:06which is 10 times the number that we have.

02:08Oh, you are wrong about what you said earlier.

02:11We can discuss that,

02:12but I think one has to consider whether or not

02:15we're dealing with decades of data

02:18proving how effective and safe

02:19the measles vaccine is.

02:22I want to move to that.

02:23I want my questions answered

02:24on are you freezing and withholding funding

02:27that Congress appropriated in 2025

02:29for life-saving NIH research?

02:33We are not withholding any funding

02:35for life-saving research.

02:37Do you commit to following the law?

02:40Of course.

02:40Are you fully obligating funding

02:42that Congress appropriated?

02:45We appropriated.

02:46It is the law of the land for NIH research

02:48and to obligate those funds

02:51by September 30th of this year.

02:54Or are you planning to break the law

02:55by impounding

02:57congressionally appropriated funds?

02:59If you appropriate me the funds,

03:01I'm going to spend them.

03:02We have.

03:03We have.

03:04In the bill,

03:04you are cutting the NIH

03:06by $18 billion.

03:08Or you're proposing to cut it

03:09by $20 billion.

03:11The Congress appropriated those funds.

03:13It passed into law.

03:15It's part of the 2024 budget.

03:17And we are under a continuing resolution

03:19that has adopted the 2024 numbers.

03:22How then can you justify

03:24cutting $20 billion

03:26from the biomedical research budget?

03:29If you appropriate the money to me,

03:33I'm going to spend that money.

03:34We have appropriated,

03:36Mr. Secretary.

03:36I'm going to spend it.

03:37Then you're going to spend it.

03:38You're not going to cut $20 billion

03:39from the NIH.

03:41The White House proposal

03:43is to do very, very large cuts

03:45at NIH.

03:47Well, that is contrary

03:49to the money appropriated.

03:52Ranking member.

03:53Yes.

03:53If Congress appropriates me the money,

03:55I'm going to spend the money.

03:58You have the power of the purse here.

04:00I'm sure you know that.

04:01Thank you for reiterating that.

04:02But I think that I'm not sure

04:03the administration really has

04:05internalized that,

04:06particularly Mr. Vogt

04:07hasn't internalized that,

04:09when he says that we can,

04:11we can, in fact,

04:13impound money.

04:14The money is there.

04:15The 2024 budget

04:16includes the funding for the NIH.

04:19Will you commit to spending the money

04:20that is in 2024 in that budget?

04:22As I said,

04:24ranking member,

04:25if you appropriate the money,

04:27I'm going to spend that money.

04:28The money has been appropriated,

04:30so the answer to that is

04:31if you're not willing

04:34to accept the funds

04:35that have been lawfully voted

04:37by members of the House and Senate

04:40on the money

04:41for the National Institutes of Health.

04:43Well, I'm going to hold you to your word

04:45that that funding is there.

04:47It should be transferred

04:48from 2024 to 2025,

04:50and you've cut already

04:52$20 billion.

04:54Let's get that money back.

04:55Let's get that money back.

04:57You have an obligation

04:58to carry out the law

04:59and to implement

05:00what the Congress has done.

05:05Unbelievable.

05:07Unbelievable.

05:09Chronic disease and tobacco.

05:10Tobacco use is a major contributor

05:12to chronic disease

05:13and is a leading preventable

05:14cause of death in our nation.

05:16Each year,

05:17killing nearly 500,000 Americans,

05:20costing the nation

05:20nearly $250 billion

05:22in health care costs.

05:24CDC's tips

05:24from former smokers' media campaign alone

05:27is estimated

05:27to have saved

05:28more than $7 billion

05:29in health care costs

05:30by helping more than

05:311 million smokers quit.

05:33Why did you eliminate

05:34CDC's Office of Smoking and Health,

05:37an office that reduces

05:38the number of kids

05:38using tobacco products,

05:40helps order tobacco users to quit,

05:41and saves taxpayers dollars?

05:47We have,

05:48under the reorganization,

05:51and I'm going to talk

05:52very, very broadly,

05:54because as of 4 o'clock

05:55yesterday afternoon,

05:57we are under a court order

05:59not to do any further planning

06:01on the reorganization,

06:03and I've been advised

06:05by my attorneys

06:06not to talk about it.

06:08But I will just say broadly,

06:10many of the programs

06:12that the Democrats

06:13are now saying

06:13were cut at CDC

06:15were not cut at all.

06:17Those programs

06:18were transferred

06:18to the Administration

06:20for Healthy America.

06:22But I'm not allowed,

06:23I'm not permitted

06:24to talk in any more detail

06:27because of a court order.

06:29I know we're just dealing

06:31with words.

06:32You're transferred here,

06:33there's less money overall

06:34for the agency,

06:36therefore there's less money

06:37for the programs.

06:38In both 2024, 2025,

06:39Congress, again,

06:41power of the purse

06:42resides here,

06:43appropriating $246 million

06:45for CDC's tobacco

06:47prevention programs.

06:49Do you commit

06:50to following the law,

06:51again, fully obligating

06:52those funds

06:53so that we can help

06:54adults who want

06:54to quit using tobacco

06:55and prevent teens

06:57from becoming addicted?

06:58Allow me to answer

06:59that by pointing out

07:00the absolute cataclysmic

07:04disorganization

07:06of this agency

07:07under your oversight

07:10for 40 years.

07:12We had nine separate

07:14offices of women's health.

07:18When we consolidate,

07:19then the Democrats say

07:20we're eliminating them.

07:21We're not.

07:22We're still appropriating

07:23the $3.7 billion,

07:24but we're not keeping

07:26all nine.

07:27We had eight separate offices

07:29for minority health.

07:30We eliminated one.

07:31We had 27 HIV offices.

07:34Okay, let me just,

07:35I'm going to interrupt.

07:35We had 59 behavioral health programs.

07:38I'm well over time.

07:39If you could just get us

07:40what has been eliminated,

07:42why you're doing it,

07:43and the criteria

07:44by which the elimination

07:45has occurred.

07:46That is information

07:47that this committee needs

07:49in order to be able

07:50to do our job

07:51in terms of appropriating funds.

07:52Thank you for your indulgence.

07:53And we will gladly provide

07:54that to you,

07:55but right now we're under

07:55a court order

07:56that prohibits us

07:57from doing so.

07:59You know, sir.

07:59Okay.

08:00Well, we're going to-

Category

Transcript

Recommended