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During a House Energy Committee hearing last week, Rep. Greg Landsman (D-OH) asked Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. about funding cuts.

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00:00Recognizes a gentleman from Ohio, Representative Lansman, for five minutes of questioning.
00:05Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Mr. Secretary, for being here.
00:11You were talking earlier about maternal health, and I want to just come back to maternal health
00:15and the disparities that exist in this country, particularly between black moms and everyone else.
00:23There is a bipartisan effort that emerged from this committee before I got here.
00:33Mr. Carter and others supported the Safe Motherhood and Infant Health Program.
00:41Now, this is an effort at HHS that focuses entirely on best practices, collecting data,
00:48trying to figure out what's working in terms of maternal health to improve healthy birth outcomes, etc.
00:58I think, and I genuinely believe this was zeroed out either accidentally or by some sort of oversight,
01:07because obviously there's no waste, fraud, and abuse here.
01:10This is just the data collection associated with, obviously, a huge priority of yours, which is maternal health.
01:18So I, as we sort of go through this budget process, is this one area where you're willing to work with us
01:27to see if, in fact, we can restore funding for something that is saving the lives of mothers,
01:34helping to eliminate these disparities, and obviously improving birth outcomes across the country.
01:41A hundred percent, and I'd love to operate on a bipartisan basis.
01:45If you contact my office, I'm happy to meet with you about it.
01:48This is a program that came out of this committee.
01:51I don't know if it was unanimous, Mr. Carter, Mr. Chairman.
01:54I suspect it was, but it got zeroed out, so maybe we, okay.
01:58Number two, Head Start, because we're just on the trajectory, healthy birth outcome,
02:04you know, brain development is happening at its fastest rate in those early years.
02:11And then we get Head Start, which has been a game changer for millions, tens of millions,
02:17something that your family has led on.
02:20It got zeroed out, but then the money got restored, which was good.
02:24And I'm just hoping that you can sort of assure everyone,
02:30because I'm getting calls on a regular basis from folks back home
02:35that they aren't sure if this is going to stick,
02:37if their Head Start funding is going to get pulled,
02:39and what that's going to mean for families and for children.
02:44Head Start funding is okay.
02:45That's not going to get touched.
02:47Yeah.
02:47I mean, my uncle, Sarge Revers, started Head Start.
02:51It takes care of 750,000 of the poorest kids in America.
02:56It not only takes care of those children and teaches them basic fundamental skills,
03:01but it also trains their parents on parenting skills.
03:04And the metrics for kids who graduate from those programs,
03:07and, you know, every metric, every indicia are better.
03:13I'm very grateful to Roosevelt and OMB for meeting with me about that
03:20and then restoring the funding, and I will continue to protect that funding.
03:25Last one, NIOSH.
03:27I have a NIOSH office or facility in Cincinnati, one of the largest.
03:34As you know, NIOSH focuses entirely on worker safety.
03:37That's what they do.
03:38And we were able to work together to restore about 300 positions,
03:45mostly as it relates to the firefighters and minors.
03:47There are still, you know, I don't know, I guess 1,000 to 1,200 positions
03:52that are on the chopping block.
03:54Are you willing to sort of reconsider or work with us on the remaining positions at NIOSH,
04:01recognizing that some of the 10,000 FTs were over, it was a mistake, right,
04:06including the ones that were working on the National Firefighter Registry for Cancer,
04:12the World Trade Center, health program, those kinds of things.
04:14The other folks at NIOSH in Cincinnati are doing exceptional work to keep workers safe.
04:21Are you willing to work with us on protecting those jobs too?
04:26Absolutely.
04:26And if Congress funds it, I will, you know, I'll keep the program open.
04:33So.
04:35Well, Congress did fund it.
04:37I mean, this, so it was funded.
04:40This time around.
04:42Yeah.
04:42So those jobs hopefully will get restored or some of them.
04:46I'm happy to meet with you about that.
04:48All right.
04:48I have a few things to add to the record.
04:53I also would like to work on some of the rare disease stuff,
04:57but I'll include that in my, what I submit.
05:01Thank you, Congressman.
05:03The gentleman.

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