'But You Won't Commit To Preserving The State Opioid Response Grants?': Jeanne Shaheen Confronts RFK Jr.

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At today's Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) questioned HHS Sec. Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Transcript

00:00Mr. Shaheen. Thank you, Madam Chairman. Mr. Secretary, New Hampshire is one of those states

00:06that has really been devastated by the opioid epidemic. For too many families, this isn't

00:13just an emergency. It's a daily heartbreak because they've lost people they love.

00:19During the first Trump administration, I worked closely with Health and Human Services to secure

00:24critical funding for New Hampshire through the state opioid response grant program.

00:28That funding has saved lives. We've made sure in New Hampshire that nearly every paramedic,

00:34firefighter, law enforcement officer has access to life-saving naloxone or Narcan.

00:42And we've also supported prevention and recovery programs that are turning the tide against

00:47addiction. We are finally beginning to see our overdose death rate go down. But I am deeply

00:52concerned that this progress is now at risk because Health and Human Services has already

00:57clawed back nearly $5 million in mental health and substance use treatment funds that are

01:02allocated to New Hampshire. And now your budget proposes eliminating SAMHSA entirely and consolidating

01:08critical substance use and mental health block grants under a vague framework that's not at

01:13all clear to me. So, Secretary Kennedy, will you commit to preserving the state opioid response

01:19grant program and to working with this committee, with my office, to ensure that states like New

01:25Hampshire, which are suffering from high rates of addiction, receive the funding and support that

01:29they need?

01:30Senator, this is an issue that's very close to my heart. I lost a brother to this disease. I've lost

01:37other family members. I lost a niece who is essentially a daughter to me. During the pandemic,

01:44I had my own 14-year struggle with heroin addiction. And it's always been a priority and it will continue to

01:52be a priority for me. And I think all of the interventions that you talked about are interventions

01:58that we're going to support on Narcon, Nalaxone, Naltrexone, Suboxone, Methadone. My own bias is toward

02:09community care programs that I think are less expensive and the most effective, but there are many people who

02:17cannot take advantage of them. And we will continue to support the states and state programs.

02:25Mr. Secretary, I don't want to interrupt, but I have read some reports of the struggles that your

02:31family has had. So, I appreciate and understand why you would be sympathetic to this challenge. And

02:38that's why it's so hard for me to understand why you would be considering programs that have been

02:43working like the state opioid response grants. Because what they do in New Hampshire, maybe they

02:48don't do this in other states, but in New Hampshire, those dollars go directly to the to the local

02:53treatment programs. We have a whole system that's set up based on those that allows people to get

02:59treatment and recovery in their communities that's designed to ensure that they can get that. And so

03:04that's why I'm so troubled by the idea that you would eliminate the entity that makes those grants

03:12available. Senator, we support 500 community care facilities around the country. We're going to

03:22continue to do that. And we will continue to support the most effective ways of ending the opioid.

03:31And we have not done a good job at that in the past. We can do a lot better.

03:36We need outcome-based care. But you won't commit to preserving the state opioid response grants?

03:47I have to look at that particular grant. But if it's working, we want to support it.

03:54To move on to another topic, I co-chair the Senate Diabetes Caucus alongside Chair Collins,

04:00who I think has been here already today. We've spent years, literally, working to try and increase

04:07funding for diabetes research to ensure access to new treatments. It's one of our most expensive

04:14chronic illnesses in this country. And yet earlier this year, your administration announced a pause on

04:20the Diabetes Prevention Program Outcome Study, which is one of those initiatives that's designed to help

04:26us figure out what the long-term impacts of diabetes are and how we can better intervene and promote

04:33alternatives. So this study, I think, is essential to understand how we better address diabetes. And

04:41you've consistently emphasized the need to improve chronic disease treatment in our country. So again,

04:46will you commit to funding this study so that we can continue to learn how to better prevent and treat

04:53diabetes? I have no idea why that study was paused. If it was paused, I would have to talk to Jay

05:00Bhattachar about that. There were thousands of studies that were put on pause and then refunded. I expect

05:07knowing Jay's commitment to it, my commitment to that study, will continue to be funded.

05:12So you will commit to looking at that? Oh, I will commit to looking at it and I'm happy to talk to you

05:19and to your staff at any time to try to help you with this issue. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair.

05:25Thank you. Senator Mullin.

05:29Thank you so much and thank you, Secretary, for being here.

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