00:01Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and thank you, Secretary Kennedy, for being with us today.
00:06I want to begin by commending you for the work your department and the administration has done
00:11to make improvements in the health of the American people and to be responsible stewards of our tax dollars.
00:18Time and time again, we heard from the prior administration mismanagement across the department,
00:23but I'm particularly concerned about the damage inflicted to public trust in our health institutions.
00:31Unsurprisingly, when faced with sweeping mandates, the American public responded with skepticism and mistrust.
00:38I know you've already taken steps to restore public trust in our health institutions.
00:42Do you see those as being successful in the near future or over what timeline?
00:47We're going to restore public trust, Congressman or Vice Chairman, by restoring truth.
00:55We're going to tell the truth to the American people, and we're going to use evidence-based science,
01:00gold standard science.
01:01As I said, we're going to use replication.
01:04If I can take a minute just to respond to something that Congressman Boulogne said,
01:11and I'll address you, Congressman Boulogne.
01:13And 15 years ago, you and I met.
01:17You were at that time a champion for people who had suffered injuries from vaccines.
01:24You were very adamant about it.
01:25You were the leading member of Congress on that issue.
01:29Since then, you've accepted $2 million from pharmaceutical companies in contribution,
01:33more than any other member of this committee.
01:35And your enthusiasm for supporting the old ACIP committee,
01:43which was completely rife and pervasive with pharmaceutical conflicts,
01:48seems to be an outcome of those contributions.
01:52Point of order.
01:52Mr. Chairman, point of order.
01:54Point of order.
01:55The chair recognizes Dr.
01:56Point of order.
01:57The gentleman is impugning the reputation of a member of Congress.
02:00It is correct.
02:01It is.
02:02Mr. Palong.
02:03Stop the clock.
02:05Can you state the point of order?
02:11Yeah.
02:12He was impugning Mr. Palong's reputation.
02:14Mr. Chairman, I didn't hear it.
02:16Did the gentleman?
02:17Oh, you weren't paying attention.
02:18That's why.
02:19Well, you know, it's hard to pay attention here when we're not getting any responses.
02:22Okay.
02:22My understanding now is that the secretary said something about me taking money from pharmaceuticals.
02:28Is that what he said?
02:28He, the secretary implied that Mr. Palong would not fight for vaccine victims because he took money from the pharmaceutical industry.
02:41You know, again.
02:42He needs to take back those words.
02:43You know, okay.
02:44He needs to take back those words.
02:44Okay.
02:44Okay.
02:44Here we go.
02:45Here we go.
02:45Here we go.
02:46The words be taken down.
02:47This, Mr. Secretary, this is a valid point of order, I'm told.
02:50So, I'd ask you, if you would, please take back those words.
02:55I retract it.
02:58Thank you, Mr. Secretary.
02:59Now, ladies and gentlemen, we're going to continue on with the decorum that I mentioned earlier in this hearing.
03:06And what we're going to do is to go to Dr. Dunn to finish up his time of questioning.
03:11Dr. Dunn is recognized.
03:13Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
03:15So, the department's fiscal year 26 proposed budget includes $750 million for strategic national stockpile as the Republican lead on the pandemic and all hazards preparedness act, PAPA.
03:28We call it, I believe, that a strong national stockpile is critical to ensure we're prepared to respond to emergencies.
03:36Do you see this stockpile as being adequate or $750 million budget being adequate for that, sir?
03:42Well, I'm very, very gratified about congressional support for reappropriating PAPA, which is absolutely critical for our pandemic response.
03:58The stockpile, I think, has now $17 billion worth of inventory.
04:04I have to check those numbers, but I'm pretty sure that that's it.
04:11And we could be doing better.
04:15The stockpile did not distinguish itself during COVID.
04:21It didn't have many of the things that we needed during COVID.
04:24And we're doing a review of that right now to make sure that the stockpile is adequately stocked.
04:30Keep us informed and we'll help you with that.
04:32Thank you, Mr. Secretary.
04:32You've long been an advocate of addressing mitochondrial health, kind of an interesting, edgy area that's illuminated earlier by the questions from Chairman Carter.
04:43The Haley VA Medical Center in Tampa has validated the compassionate use data for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Parkinson's disease,
04:51and has generated new positive data using mitochondrial transplantation for Alzheimer's.
04:57They've also entered into a formal agreement with Walter Reed to use this experiment with this treatment for traumatic brain injuries.
05:05And now NASA is entering into a similar agreement to study mitochondrial health issues associated with space travel.
05:12Secretary Kennedy, do you intend to continue these efforts?
05:15To study mitochondrial?
05:18Yes, sir.
05:18Yeah, I mean, that's going to be, mitochondrial dysfunction is the heart and soul of the chronic disease epidemic.
05:26And, you know, we now know that Alzheimer's disease, which was once thought to be, have a number of hypotheses about its etiology.
05:38But Alzheimer's disease is now characterized in the medical literature as type 3 diabetes because it's recognized that mitochondrial dysfunction is not just causing disease in children,
05:52but it's also causing a disease in adults.
05:55And the cause of it is clearly our food as one of the principal causes.
06:02And we are absolutely laser focused.
06:08I'm afraid our time has expired, but thank you very much for your answers.
