Frank Pallone Lights Into RFK Jr., Accuses Him Of Pushing A 'Dangerous Pseudoscience Agenda'

Forbes Breaking News

At a House Energy Committee hearing on Tuesday, Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) spoke to Sec. RFK Jr. about his record.

Transcript

00:00The gentleman yields. The chair now recognizes the ranking member of the full committee, Mr.

00:04Palom, for five minutes for an opening statement. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you, Mr.

00:09Secretary, for being here. Good to see Gary as well. Congratulations. For the past six months,

00:14the Trump administration has created chaos within our health system by canceling funding grants,

00:20rescinding billions of dollars in obligated funding, firing thousands of civil servants,

00:25and eliminating entire agencies and programs within HHS. Today's hearing is important because

00:31it finally provides us the opportunity to get some answers from Secretary Kennedy. But for months,

00:36we've been demanding answers on the administration's actions that seriously threaten the health and

00:40well-being of the American people. And many of these actions have been illegal, but Secretary

00:45Kennedy has refused to provide this committee any justifications for his actions, and I find that

00:50unacceptable. I express deep concerns with your nomination, Secretary Kennedy, and somehow,

00:56unfortunately, you've exceeded my expectations in the worst possible ways. You're actively undermining

01:02vaccines, the greatest public health achievement in modern history. Earlier this month, you unilaterally

01:07fired all 17 members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, the medical experts who

01:13developed vaccine recommendations, and appointed eight anti-vaccine people. It's clear that you do not

01:19intend to uphold the commitments you made to the Senate during your confirmation process to not

01:24take away people's access to vaccines. Instead, I believe you intend to use your position to advance

01:30your dangerous pseudoscience agenda and put the lives of Americans, especially children, at risk.

01:36The chaos has not been limited to vaccines. The Trump administration cut nearly $3.8 billion in grants

01:42from the National Institutes of Health, creating extreme uncertainty for medical researchers across the country

01:48and threatening future medical innovation. Things are so chaotic at NIH that more than 340 of its top

01:54scientists signed a letter to the NIH director detailing unprecedented waste, abuse, and illegality at

02:01NIH under the Trump administration. And this was an unprecedented action by these employees, who must feel

02:07they have no other options at this point other than to go public. In addition to widespread grant

02:13cancellation, tens of thousands of civil servants have been fired across HHS. And Secretary, you've

02:19claimed that these staffing cuts have not interfered with program operations. But we know for a fact that

02:25that's not true. Entire offices and centers have been eliminated because there's no staff left to run them.

02:30Grantees and stakeholders can't get answers to their basic program questions. Staff at FDA and CDC have had to

02:36have been brought back just to keep programs running. And deadlines at FDA are being missed. And these

02:43decisions have been made indiscriminately without any regard, in my opinion, for their impact on the health

02:47and well-being of the American people. And now, Secretary Kennedy, you've proposed a budget for the upcoming

02:53fiscal year that includes drastic and devastating cuts to our health agencies. The administration proposes a

02:5954 percent cut to the CDC, threatening the agency's ability to protect the health of the American

03:05people. It proposes a 20 percent cut to NIH, which will seriously threaten our ability to conduct

03:11medical research into new life-saving treatments and cures. And it proposes an 11 percent cut to the

03:17FDA, decimating our ability to prove safe and effective drugs and medical products and keep our food

03:23supply safe. The Secretary has also proposed a reorganization of HHS that would not only eliminate

03:29important programs, but entire agencies like SAMHSA. And this action will seriously undermine our ability

03:34to continue to make progress against the opioid crisis. And all these actions decimate our public

03:40health infrastructure, and they come at the same time that Republicans are pushing their big, ugly bill

03:45that would take health care away from 16 million Americans so they can give giant tax breaks to their

03:50billionaire friends. The Republican bill is the largest health care cut in American history, ripping health

03:55care away from tens of millions of Americans, increasing costs on everyone else, and forcing

04:00the closure of hospitals and nursing homes. It'll have dire consequences for our entire health care

04:05system, and I believe people will die. Now there's a lot to cover today at this budget hearing, but I just

04:10want to say I do believe the Secretary must appear here again very soon for an oversight hearing on the

04:16unprecedented and troubling chaos he's created at the vaccine panel and its impacts on people's access to

04:22life-saving vaccines. These disturbing actions warrant investigation. I hope Chairman Guthrie will join us

04:28in getting answers on behalf of the American people. I have about a half a minute left. Let me just say, I

04:33don't say any of these things, Mr. Secretary, out of any, you know, not liking you in some way. And I know I

04:39probably shouldn't say this, but, you know, President Kennedy was my hero when I was growing up.

04:44Um, RFK, I worked on his campaign before he was assassinated. Um, Joe Kennedy was my friend, had the

04:52office next to me when I was first elected. Uh, Patrick Kennedy, still a friend. The younger Joe

04:59Kennedy was a member of our committee. I thought did a great job. You know, I admire you. I admire your

05:04family. I admire your work that you did, uh, on the environment. Um, but it's just very upsetting at this

05:10point to me. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Gentlemen.

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