Lawmakers question Kennedy on staffing cuts, funding freezes and policy changes at health department

WASHINGTON AP Democrats and Republicans alike raised concerns on Wednesday about deep staffing cuts funding freezes and far-reaching plan changes overseen by U S Wellness and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr A bipartisan group of lawmakers questioned Kennedy s approach to the job particular saying that he has jeopardized vaccine uptake cancer research and dental robustness in just a sparse short months In combative and at times highly personal rejoinders Kennedy defended the Trump administration s dramatic effort to reshape the sprawling trillion-a-year agency saying it would deliver a more efficient department focused on promoting healthier lifestyles among Americans There s so much chaos and disorganization in this department Kennedy revealed on Wednesday during the Senate hearing What we re saying is let s organize in a way that we can expeditiously adopt and deploy all these opportunities we have to really deliver high-quality vitality care to the American people During tense exchanges lawmakers in back to back House and Senate hearings sometimes questioned whether Kennedy was aware of his actions and the structure of his own department after he struggled to provide more details about staffing cuts I have noted you ve been unable in majority instances to answer any specific questions related to your agency noted Sen Angela Alsobrooks a Maryland Democrat The secretary in turn pushed back saying he had not had time to answer specific questions and at points questioning lawmakers own grasp of soundness approach Kennedy testified to explain his downsizing of the department from to staffers and argue on behalf of the White House s requested budget which includes a million boost for Kennedy s Make America Healthy Again initiative to promote nutrition and healthier lifestyles while making deep cuts to infectious complaint prevention diagnostic research and maternal wellness programs He revealed that he persuaded the White House to back down from one major cut Head Start a federally-funded preschool effort for low-income families across the country But lawmakers described how thousands of job losses at the healthcare department and funding freezes have impacted their districts One Washington state mother Natalie has faced delays in medicine for stage cancer at the National Institutes of Strength s Clinical Center stated Democratic Sen Patty Murray The clinical center is the research-only hospital commonly known as the House of Hope but when Murray demanded Kennedy to explain how multiple jobs have been lost there he could not answer The president s budget proposes a nearly billion slash from the NIH You are here to defend cutting the NIH by half Murray revealed Do you genuinely believe that won t effect in more stories like Natalie s Kennedy disputed Murray s account Democrat Rep Bonnie Watson-Coleman of New Jersey appealed why why why Kennedy would lay off nearly all the staff who oversee the Low Income Home Ability Assistance Operation which provides billion in heating assistance to needy families The effort is slated to be eliminated from the agency s budget Kennedy mentioned that advocates warned him those cuts will end up killing people but that President Donald Trump believes his ability guidelines will lower costs If that doesn t work Kennedy stated he would restore funding for the operation Sen Lisa Murkowski a Republican of Alaska mentioned those savings would be realized too late for people in her state Right now folks in Alaska still need those ugly generators to keep warm she stated Murkowski was one of several Republicans who expressed concerns about Kennedy s approach to the job throughout the hearings Like several Republicans Rep Chuck Fleischmann of Tennessee praised Kennedy for his work promoting healthy foods But he raised concerns about whether the secretary has provided adequate evidence that artificial food dyes are bad for diets Removing those food dyes would hurt the several snack manufacturers in his district including the makers of M M s candy he declared Rep Mike Simpson a dentist from Idaho commented Kennedy s plan to remove fluoride recommendations for drinking water alarms him The department s press release on Tuesday which released the Food and Drug Administration plans to remove fluoride supplements for children from the sphere wrongly claimed that fluoride kills bacteria from the teeth Simpson noted He explained to Kennedy that fluoride doesn t kill bacteria in the mouth but instead makes tooth enamel more resistant to decay I will tell you that if you are productive in banning fluoride we better put a lot more money into dental coaching because we re going to need a lot more dentists Simpson added Kennedy was pressed repeatedly on the mixed message he s delivered on vaccines which population wellbeing experts have stated are hampering efforts to contain a growing measles outbreak now in at least states Responding to Sen Chris Murphy a Democrat of Connecticut Kennedy refused to recommend that parents follow the nation s childhood vaccination schedule which includes shots for measles polio and whooping cough He instead wrongly claimed that the vaccines have not been safety tested against a placebo Sen Bill Cassidy a Republican of Louisiana and chairman of the fitness committee had extracted a number of guarantees from Kennedy that he would not alter existing vaccine guidance and work at the nation s healthcare department Cassidy correcting Kennedy pointed out that rotavirus measles and HPV vaccines recommended for children have all been tested in a placebo review As soundness secretary Kennedy has called the measles mumps and rubella vaccine a shot given to children to provide immunity from all three diseases leaky although it offers lifetime protection from the measles for largest part people He s also mentioned they cause deaths although none has been documented among healthy people You have undermined the vital role vaccines play in preventing illness during the single largest measles outbreak in years Democratic Sen Bernie Sanders commented