At today's Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) questioned HHS Sec. Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
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00:01Thank you for being here, Mr. Secretary. Let me ask you a start-up question.
00:04Do you know the number one cause of preventable death in America today?
00:11The number one cause?
00:14Well, I know what the number one cause of death is in this country.
00:21I'm not sure what you're talking about.
00:23I'm talking about tobacco.
00:25You fired the head of the CDC's Office of Smoking and Health and eliminated their efforts from your budget.
00:32Hundreds of employees at FDA's Tobacco Center, including the director, have been let go.
00:37If we are genuinely concerned, and I believe you are, about the health of America and making it better,
00:42something as basic as the number one preventable cause of death is not served by that kind of dismissal.
00:49Let me take you to another issue that I think is personal to me in a way.
00:53It reflects a tragic situation involving ALS.
01:00A friend of mine named Brian Wallach used to work in the Obama White House.
01:05And Brian met his wife-to-be, Sandra Abravaya, who was my press secretary.
01:11They married.
01:12When their second daughter was born, Sandra came home from the hospital to learn that her husband had ALS.
01:19Brian and Sandra have been fighting a battle now for eight years.
01:23He's still alive.
01:24He can no longer walk or talk, but he has hope.
01:30He loves his family, and he's hoping that something, something will break through in ALS that gives him a chance for a future.
01:38Please explain to Brian and Sandra and their two young daughters why you've canceled ALS grants at institutions across this country,
01:45and why you think research for diseases like ALS should be cut by 40% next year.
01:51Senator, I don't know about those cuts.
01:54I will have to, I don't know if that's true.
01:58I don't know if those were part of the rifts, in which case the people were not fired, but they were put on administrative leave.
02:04I, you know, the issues that you're talking about are issues that are important to me, tobacco, ALS, and I know you have a passion for congenital heart disease as well.
02:16Those are all issues that I'm deeply concerned with, and I'm happy to meet with you at any time and talk about the programs and what we can do to make them better.
02:26Of course, you're welcome, and I think the conversation is important.
02:29But I want to remind you, on April 1st, 10 laboratory heads at National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Strokes received their layoff notices.
02:39They were all PhDs and senior investigators.
02:41They're not administrators, whatever that might be.
02:45They were running intramural labs at NIH.
02:48If you have your way, they'll all be gone on June 2nd.
02:51Science Magazine reported 25 of 320 physician researchers at NIH's Internal Clinical Center are leaving.
02:59And the number of patients treated in the hospital has been reduced by 30%.
03:03Three grants involving ALS and dementia work at Northwestern University, Illinois, have been paused.
03:11One looking at how to stop the buildup of damaged proteins.
03:14Another looking at cellular mechanisms that can be drug targets.
03:18Just last week, an ALS researcher at Harvard had his grant cut that was using AI to accelerate the reversal of ALS symptoms.
03:27Brian Wallach is waiting for a cure.
03:30He is not giving up.
03:32His source of hope is this research that you are unfortunately terminating.
03:36How can we possibly address his concerns and give hope to people across the country who are suffering for so many diseases
03:43when our government is cutting back on that research?
03:47As I said, Senator, I do not know about any cuts to ALS research.
03:54And I'm happy to meet with you.
03:55I just read them to you.
03:56I will have to go and talk with Jay Bhattacharya and find out what the rationale was for those cuts.
04:02I just don't know about them until you told me about them at this moment.
04:07There are many things that concern both of us about the state of public health in America.
04:12And questions you've raised, I think, are legitimate questions, many of them, that I want to follow through.
04:17I want to know the honest, scientific answer to these questions.
04:21And I want to make this point.
04:23Cutting medical research is giving up on the future.
04:27You can't do that.
04:28These families are counting on you, Secretary, and counting on your department to do this research.
04:33It gives them hope to live another day.
04:36Turning out the lights and saying you're doing it in the name of efficiency or doge or whatever it is,
04:41is no consolation to these families that are struggling.
04:44Thank you, Madam Chair.
04:46Senator Moran.
04:47Thank you, Chairman.
04:49Secretary, welcome.