Today, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appeared before the House Committee on Appropriations and Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee to testify on the White House’s 2026 budget request for his agency.
The proposed HHS budget would effectively shutter SAMHSA, radically slash NIH support for biomedical research, cut certain preschool and community services programs and dilute critical research into women and marginalized community’s health among other major changes.
Public Citizen Co-President Lisa Gilbert issued the following statement:
“It’s impossible to understand Secretary Kennedy’s mental gymnastics in simultaneously telling Americans he will improve their health while supporting a proposed White House budget that guts crucial existing health services but funnels $500 million into his vague, imaginary “MAHA” initiative.
“While Kennedy tries to distract the American people with slogans and pseudoscience, hospitals are scrambling to stay afloat and millions of Medicaid patients are bracing for the potential loss of their healthcare coverage in service of tax cuts for the wealthy if the MAGA reconciliation package moves.
“Meanwhile, Kennedy remains avoidant in taking accountability for his ongoing responsibilities and defends the firing of 10,000 HHS workers and dismantling of NIOSH and the NIH. His time in his position as HHS secretary indicates he is not prioritizing Americans’ health. Instead, he’s pushing through his bizarre personal agenda with reckless abandon.
“Kennedy said ‘I don’t think people should be taking medical advice from me.’ Congress should take those words to heart and reject the 2026 White House budget that further guts public health programs and could sicken millions of Americans.”
This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Newswire Editor.
Newswire Editor | Radio Free (2025-05-14T21:24:40+00:00) Kennedy Seems to Double Down In His Agenda to Make America Sick Again. Retrieved from https://www.radiofree.org/2025/05/14/kennedy-seems-to-double-down-in-his-agenda-to-make-america-sick-again/
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