Susan Collins Asks RFK Jr. What He'd Include On Unfunded Priorities List Amidst Massive Budget Cuts

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At a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing prior to the Congressional recess, Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) questioned HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

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00:00Mr. Secretary, and I am going to turn to the chair of the full committee, who we're honored to have

00:05here, as always, Senator Susan Collins for seven minutes for questioning. Thank you. Thank you very

00:14much, Madam Chair, and I thank the Vice Chair as well. Welcome, Secretary Kennedy. Secretary Kennedy,

00:23the military services submit to Congress what is known as an unfunded priorities list. It includes

00:34funding requests that were not included in the President's budget, but oftentimes we take from

00:42that list and do fund what the military was unable to get into the President's budget. And just to give

00:52you some idea, the unfunded priorities list range from more battleships to better housing for our

01:00troops to weapons R&D. It really covers the map. Your department's budget has been sharply cut by 26%

01:14below the fiscal year 2025 level. If you were required, as our military services are, to submit

01:25an unfunded priorities list, what would you include on it? That's a good question, Senator. I, you know,

01:34I would include the research that has been neglected for the past 20 years on chronic disease and what's

01:43caused us to go from 3% of Americans having, of children having chronic disease, when I was a little

01:50boy and my uncle was present, to 60% today. I would want to look at the, at the thousands, over 10,000

02:00chemicals that are now in our food. Most of them have never been tested. I'd want to look at what's

02:05causing the infertility crisis. Why are girls in this country reaching puberty six years early,

02:12uh, earlier than, earlier than historically? Why do boys in this country have half the testosterone

02:20teenagers of a 68-year-old man, half the sperm count of a 60-year-old man? I would want to do research

02:28on why our bees are disappearing, why 90% hive collapse happened, which is a food issue. I would

02:36want to look at the microbiomes in the soil and what's, and how that's contributing to erosion and,

02:43and how chemicals that we're using in agriculture are sickening farmers in many cases, potentially,

02:52and are destroying the microbiome and creating a, a situation where soil is running off and where

02:59most agronomists believe that we only have 60 harvests left. And I would want to look at why

03:07we're having an explosion in Alzheimer's in this country, not just curing it, but why, what is causing

03:12it? And I think NIH has done a very good job at, at making cancer more survivable. For example,

03:22colorectal cancer, where there's been extraordinary science done at NIH. Why isn't NIH asking the question,

03:32why do we have colorectal cancer in children? This is something that's new to humanity, and it was never

03:38known before. And now it's an epidemic in our children, and we need to have a balance where

03:44we're looking at cures for diseases, but we're also focusing on how to keep Americans healthy,

03:51so that we can beat these ruinous healthcare costs, and that we can have a healthy, productive society.

03:58Thank you. I want to turn to a couple of other issues. First of all,

04:03the LIHE program, which we've talked about, is absolutely vital for thousands of older Mainers

04:11and low-income families. It helps them avoid the constant worry of having to choose between keeping

04:18warm, buying essential foods and medications, and other basic necessities. Now, I was pleased to see the

04:27release of the rest of the fiscal year 2025 funds, but the administration's new budget

04:35seeks to eliminate what is truly a critical program. Will you work with this committee in trying to

04:45restore the LIHE program so that we can avoid literally seniors and low-income families not being

04:55able to keep warm in the winter? Yeah, absolutely, and I am from New England. Myself, my brother,

05:03for 40 years has run a Citizens Energy, which provides low-cost home heating oil to families in New

05:13England, and so many people have come to me over the years and said to me, thank you, your brother saved

05:19my life, because I didn't have to choose between food and heat. I was on the Navajo reservation three

05:26weeks ago, and Navajo President Bu Nygren said to me, if we cut at this point, if we cut LIHE, Navajo will

05:37die from it. So I understand the critical historical importance to this program. President Trump's

05:44rationale and OMB's rationale is that President Trump's energy policies are going to lower the

05:51cost of energy for this program so that everybody will get lower costs heating oil, and in that case,

05:57this program would simply be another subsidy to the fossil fuel industry. If that doesn't happen,

06:06then I would, and Congress chooses to appropriate the money, I of course will spend it. I've already

06:14directed the spending of $400 million in this year's budget to that, and I will work with you to make

06:20sure that those families do not suffer in that way. Thank you. You and I have had many conversations

06:29about Alzheimer's disease and the BOLD Act. I do want to point out the CDC's cooperative agreements

06:39for the Healthy Brain Initiative and three dementia public health centers of excellence under the BOLD Act

06:48are expected to, are set to expire at the end of September. We initially expected that the CDC

06:58would put out a notice encouraging applications early this year. Inexplicably, no such notice has been issued,

07:09even though we reauthorized the BOLD Act and funding is available under the appropriations measure that

07:16President Trump signed into law in March. How and when does HHS plan to issue this notice of

07:28funding opportunity so that we can continue what what has been a very effective approach to the Healthy

07:38Brain Initiative and Centers of Excellence. It helps caregivers. It encourages early diagnosis. It really

07:48has been an important program taking the kind of public health approach that you've generally supported.

07:56Yeah, um, Senator, I, because of the TRO from the federal judge on this issue that was issued last week, I'm, I've

08:06been on instructed by HHS and by White House attorneys that I can't speak directly to that part of the reorg.

08:14Um, you know, I have a strong personal commitment to, as I said before, to Alzheimer's, to dementia,

08:22uh, and it's affected members of my family and I understand how important these programs have been

08:29and whatever happens, we will continue that research. Thank you. Senator Baldwin. Thank you, Chair Capito.

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