RFK Jr. Tells Lawmakers: 'Throwing Money At This Agency Has Not Worked'

Forbes Breaking News

At a House Energy Committee hearing on Tuesday, Sec. RFK Jr. told lawmakers that throwing money at HHS has not made Americans healthier.

Transcript

00:00Mr. Secretary, our national debt is one of the greatest threats to our country.

00:05We all recognize that.

00:06And Americans are still reeling from the debilitating effects of the Biden-Harris administration.

00:11But rather than address the cause of this uncontrolled spending, the Biden-Harris administration

00:15chose to double down.

00:17And as a result, we're facing the debt crisis of our own making.

00:20The United States is on an unsustainable fiscal path with a gross national debt of $36.2

00:26trillion, equating to over $270,000 per household.

00:30If we don't work to bring down our debt and address waste, fraud, and abuse, and it's

00:35going to cost Americans dearly, especially in the healthcare space.

00:38With an aging population, we all recognize that.

00:40We can no longer afford to simply throw more money at this problem and hope for change.

00:45That's why we look forward to HHS's transformation to make America healthy again.

00:50Mr. Secretary, can you explain your vision on how the proposed reorganization can make

00:55the department more efficient and effective for patients and providers?

00:59Yes, Mr. Chairman.

01:03Our cuts are designed to eliminate waste, fraud, abuse, redundancies to streamline the department.

01:13During the Biden administration, we added 38 percent to the budget of my agency.

01:22And American health indicia, in other words, the health of the American people, actually

01:27declined precipitously.

01:30Throwing money at it, you know, in 1986, we spent the equivalent in this agency of $250 billion

01:42in current dollars, today we spent $1.45 trillion just on chronic disease, and the budget of the agency

01:55is a little over $1.7 trillion.

01:59And we've gone from 11th in a lifespan in 1986 to 49th today.

02:07We are today the sickest country in the world.

02:10We have the highest death rate during COVID of any nation on earth.

02:16And that's because of our chronic disease epidemic.

02:18That's because we have the highest chronic disease burden of any country in the world.

02:23Throwing money at this agency has not worked.

02:26We need to realign the agency.

02:28We need to recalibrate its trajectory so that it transforms our healthcare system from a sick

02:36care system into a healthcare system.

02:38Can you elaborate some on how HHS has already taken steps to do just what you described?

02:44Well, first of all, very few of the studies that were being done by NIH were being done on

02:52chronic disease.

02:53NIH should be telling us what are seed oils doing to our children?

02:58What are corn syrup doing to our children?

03:04What are food dyes doing to our children?

03:07What is the packaging and microplastics doing to our children?

03:10What are pesticides doing to our children?

03:13None of those studies were being done.

03:17Studies that were being done by NIH and many—let me give you an example of a few that I cut.

03:23There was a study, a $2.2 million study from Boston University to study the effects of exogenous

03:30testosterone therapy on communication in gender-diverse speakers.

03:36We got a $3 million study at the University of Pennsylvania that studied anti-vaping social

03:44media campaigns targeted towards sexual gender minorities, teens between 13 and 18.

03:50We got a $1 million from the University of Michigan to study sexual fluidity and longitudinal

03:57changes in alcohol misuse.

04:01And that's just an example of thousands of studies like that that were doing nothing to

04:06improve American health.

04:08And we're going to change that.

04:10We're going to have gold standard science.

04:12We're going to have replicated studies.

04:14We're going to publish our data.

04:16We're going to publish our peer review.

04:18And we are going to, for the first time in 30 years, return NIH to evidence-based science.

04:26Thank you for that.

04:27And, Mr. Secretary, I'm going to submit some questions also for you to answer to highlight

04:33a couple of kids who are living with ultra-rare mitochondrial disorders like Hope with MLS syndrome

04:40and Jackson with Barth syndrome that needs your help in accessing life-saving medications.

04:45I know that you are committed to helping with orphan drugs and helping with rare diseases,

04:50and I've got some questions about that.

04:53Also, if you get a chance later on, I'd like for you to address what was done yesterday with

04:58the prior approvals.

04:59I think that was very significant.

05:01But I'm out of time.

05:02At this time, I'm going to recognize, I'm going to yield back and recognize that...

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