RFK Jr. Says Ending Gain Of Function & 'Radical Gender Ideology' Research Are Among His Top Goals

Forbes Breaking News

During a House Energy Committee hearing last week, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. talked about his goals for the agency.

Transcript

00:00Thank you, Chairman Carter, and thank you, Vice Chairman Dunn, thank you,

00:12Ranking Member DeGette, and members of the committee. I'm honored to appear before you

00:18today to present the Department of Health and Human Services Fiscal Year Budget for 2026.

00:24Debilitating disease, contaminated food, toxic environments, addiction, mental illness affect

00:32families across every race, class, and political belief. When my team and I took the helm at HHS,

00:40we set out with clear goals. First, to make America healthy again with a special focus

00:46on ending chronic disease epidemic. Second, we committed to delivering more efficient,

00:52responsive, and effective service to over 100 million Americans who rely on Medicare,

00:57Medicaid, and other HHS programs. Third, to achieve these goals while cutting costs for taxpayers,

01:05we intend to do more, a lot more, with less. The budget I'm presenting today supports these

01:12goals and reflects two enduring American values, compassion and responsibility.

01:18I invite the committee to unite around these ideals with me. The United States remains the sickest

01:27developed nation, and yet we spend $4.5 trillion annually on healthcare, two to three times more per

01:34capita to comparable nations. Clearly, something is structurally wrong with our approach. Furthermore,

01:44healthcare costs are steadily increasing at a rate of 2% greater than the economy. This is unsustainable.

01:51If we don't staunch this trend, we will ransom our children to bankruptcy, servitude, and disastrous

01:58health consequences. Yes, an exploding debt is a social determinant of health.

02:05We won't solve this problem by throwing more money at it. We must spend smarter. We will shift funding away

02:12from bureaucracy toward direct impact. Some things at HHS will not change. We will preserve the legacy

02:19programs like Medicare and Medicaid as the foundation of the Maha Agenda. Vulnerable populations, seniors,

02:29and veterans deserve consistent access to care, and I will make sure they receive it.

02:34Today, 83 million Americans, urban and rural, lack adequate access to primary care physicians.

02:43We will prioritize these families, especially Native Americans and Alaskan communities.

02:49We will protect IHS funding, streamline its operations, and give the tribes more autonomy in managing their

02:57resources. Let me be clear. We intend to make the Trump HHS not only the most effective, but also

03:05the most compassionate in U.S. history. While our official budget statement outlines many priorities,

03:13I want to highlight a few. First, we will consolidate programs to better tackle mental health and addiction.

03:20These issues now rival chronic disease and their impact. The HHS will aggressively combat the opioid crisis,

03:28especially the spread of synthetic drugs like fentanyl. We will empower state, local, and tribal leaders to

03:35create effective solutions. Second, we will address nutrition, physical activity, and healthy lifestyles. The

03:43President's budget requests $94 billion in discretionary funds to support these priorities, including the

03:50Administration for a Healthy America. AHA will oversee initiatives such as Prevention Innovation Program,

03:59which targets chronic disease and childhood obesity through access to nutrition service and physical

04:07activity and reducing dependence on medication. Third, we will equip FDA to expand its food safety

04:15efforts through research, regulation, inspection, and education to remove harmful chemicals from food and

04:23packaging and explore how to close the generally recognized as safe with a grass loophole. Fourth,

04:31we will fund cutting-edge research at the NIH while cutting risky or non-essential studies. That includes ending

04:38gain-of-function experiments and research based upon radical gender ideology. At the CDC, we will return to

04:46core missions, tracking diseases, investigating outbreaks, and sustaining public health infrastructure

04:54while cutting waste. Fifth, we will eliminate DEI funding and redirect resources toward real poverty reduction.

05:03We will move beyond lip service to communities of color and take meaningful action to address their needs. Sixth, we will

05:11strengthen cyber security and health IT. The AI revolution has arrived and we are using this technology

05:18already at HHS to manage healthcare data more efficiently and securely and to increase the speed of drug approvals.

05:29Finally, we will rebuild public trust. Trusts that eroded through the years of industry capture,

05:35waste, and misplaced priorities. We will launch a new era of transparency and public service,

05:42creating an honest, science-driven HHS that answers to the President, to Congress, and the American people.

05:49I look forward to working with Congress to pursue this mission together as a bipartisan cause. Let's work

05:56side-by-side to make America healthy again. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, the gentleman.

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