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RFK Jr. Says Ending Gain Of Function & 'Radical Gender Ideology' Research Are Among His Top Goals
Forbes Breaking News
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2 days ago
During a House Energy Committee hearing last week, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. talked about his goals for the agency.
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00:00
Thank you, Chairman Carter, and thank you, Vice Chairman Dunn, thank you,
00:12
Ranking Member DeGette, and members of the committee. I'm honored to appear before you
00:18
today to present the Department of Health and Human Services Fiscal Year Budget for 2026.
00:24
Debilitating disease, contaminated food, toxic environments, addiction, mental illness affect
00:32
families across every race, class, and political belief. When my team and I took the helm at HHS,
00:40
we set out with clear goals. First, to make America healthy again with a special focus
00:46
on ending chronic disease epidemic. Second, we committed to delivering more efficient,
00:52
responsive, and effective service to over 100 million Americans who rely on Medicare,
00:57
Medicaid, and other HHS programs. Third, to achieve these goals while cutting costs for taxpayers,
01:05
we intend to do more, a lot more, with less. The budget I'm presenting today supports these
01:12
goals and reflects two enduring American values, compassion and responsibility.
01:18
I invite the committee to unite around these ideals with me. The United States remains the sickest
01:27
developed nation, and yet we spend $4.5 trillion annually on healthcare, two to three times more per
01:34
capita to comparable nations. Clearly, something is structurally wrong with our approach. Furthermore,
01:44
healthcare costs are steadily increasing at a rate of 2% greater than the economy. This is unsustainable.
01:51
If we don't staunch this trend, we will ransom our children to bankruptcy, servitude, and disastrous
01:58
health consequences. Yes, an exploding debt is a social determinant of health.
02:05
We won't solve this problem by throwing more money at it. We must spend smarter. We will shift funding away
02:12
from bureaucracy toward direct impact. Some things at HHS will not change. We will preserve the legacy
02:19
programs like Medicare and Medicaid as the foundation of the Maha Agenda. Vulnerable populations, seniors,
02:29
and veterans deserve consistent access to care, and I will make sure they receive it.
02:34
Today, 83 million Americans, urban and rural, lack adequate access to primary care physicians.
02:43
We will prioritize these families, especially Native Americans and Alaskan communities.
02:49
We will protect IHS funding, streamline its operations, and give the tribes more autonomy in managing their
02:57
resources. Let me be clear. We intend to make the Trump HHS not only the most effective, but also
03:05
the most compassionate in U.S. history. While our official budget statement outlines many priorities,
03:13
I want to highlight a few. First, we will consolidate programs to better tackle mental health and addiction.
03:20
These issues now rival chronic disease and their impact. The HHS will aggressively combat the opioid crisis,
03:28
especially the spread of synthetic drugs like fentanyl. We will empower state, local, and tribal leaders to
03:35
create effective solutions. Second, we will address nutrition, physical activity, and healthy lifestyles. The
03:43
President's budget requests $94 billion in discretionary funds to support these priorities, including the
03:50
Administration for a Healthy America. AHA will oversee initiatives such as Prevention Innovation Program,
03:59
which targets chronic disease and childhood obesity through access to nutrition service and physical
04:07
activity and reducing dependence on medication. Third, we will equip FDA to expand its food safety
04:15
efforts through research, regulation, inspection, and education to remove harmful chemicals from food and
04:23
packaging and explore how to close the generally recognized as safe with a grass loophole. Fourth,
04:31
we will fund cutting-edge research at the NIH while cutting risky or non-essential studies. That includes ending
04:38
gain-of-function experiments and research based upon radical gender ideology. At the CDC, we will return to
04:46
core missions, tracking diseases, investigating outbreaks, and sustaining public health infrastructure
04:54
while cutting waste. Fifth, we will eliminate DEI funding and redirect resources toward real poverty reduction.
05:03
We will move beyond lip service to communities of color and take meaningful action to address their needs. Sixth, we will
05:11
strengthen cyber security and health IT. The AI revolution has arrived and we are using this technology
05:18
already at HHS to manage healthcare data more efficiently and securely and to increase the speed of drug approvals.
05:29
Finally, we will rebuild public trust. Trusts that eroded through the years of industry capture,
05:35
waste, and misplaced priorities. We will launch a new era of transparency and public service,
05:42
creating an honest, science-driven HHS that answers to the President, to Congress, and the American people.
05:49
I look forward to working with Congress to pursue this mission together as a bipartisan cause. Let's work
05:56
side-by-side to make America healthy again. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, the gentleman.
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