RFK Jr.’s Assault on America’s Health Is Worse Than We Ever Imagined

Last December, I wrote about the dangers of Donald Trump’s nomination of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services, and the unqualified, dangerous individuals appointed to lead key public health agencies. I made the case that these appointments, starting with Kennedy, were a deliberate attempt to break our health system, and would make Americans sicker.

As the Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee, and of the Labor, Health, and Human Services (LHHS) subcommittee, I prioritize funding and oversight for these agencies. I know the importance of their missions.

I did not expect Kennedy to simply obliterate health agencies that are key to our nation’s progress and leadership in public health.

Over the past four months, President Trump and RFK Jr., along with unchecked billionaire Elon Musk, have followed through on their threats to destroy the agencies that protect our health. As part of their drastic and haphazard purge and reorganization at HHS, they have eliminated entire agencies. Among them are institutions that have saved the lives of someone near to each and every one of us.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), which operates the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline — eliminated.

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), which is responsible for ensuring access to health care for uninsured, isolated, and vulnerable people, like HIV/AIDS patients, mothers and children, and families in rural communities — eliminated.

The Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR), which helps us respond to and prepare for public health emergencies — eliminated.

And even the Administration for Community Living (ACL), the driving force behind programs like Meals on Wheels that curtail senior hunger and isolation — eliminated.

I do not believe the American people want less health research, more infectious disease outbreaks, and cuts to Medicaid. The president took time in his first address to Congress to recognize a young boy battling brain cancer. But now, the White House and Republicans are taking resources away from people fighting cancer and diseases of all kinds.

The administration has fired or pushed out thousands of experts and experienced staff who help keep Americans safe from infectious diseases, including Measles, HIV, and tuberculosis.

Take the example of Peter Marks, the country’s top vaccine regulator at the Food & Drug Administration, who helped develop the Covid vaccines at record speed under the first Trump administration. This effort helped prevent over three million additional deaths according to a study from the Commonwealth Fund. None of that mattered, because Marks was told to resign or be fired. In his resignation letter, Marks wrote that, quote, “it has become clear that truth and transparency are not desired by the Secretary, but rather he wishes subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies.”

At the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), where DOGE has already fired or pushed out 2,400 employees, Kennedy has eviscerated the offices that track the most urgent and alarming threats to public health, from HIV to cancer. These offices collected data that allowed everyone from community physicians to parents to make informed decisions about their families’ health. Without this data, our public health experts will have a harder time identifying trends and prioritizing resources in our communities.

HHS has terminated $11 billion in funding for state and local health departments, and DOGE is demanding CDC slash nearly $3 billion in grant funding, illegally cutting CDC’s annual discretionary funding by over 30 percent. They are eliminating scores of CDC programs, including HIV prevention and tobacco prevention programs — programs that help save the lives of men, women, and children all across this country.

Why on Earth are these the places DOGE is searching for so-called waste? The life of a teenager that does not become addicted to cigarettes is not a waste.

At the National Institutes of Health, Kennedy has fired more than 2,000 employees, including several Directors of NIH’s individual institutes. The administration has withheld federal funding from universities that do not adopt their preferred policies, cancelled research on topics they do not like, put tight restraints on NIH grants, and illegally impounded funding appropriated by Congress. The Administration has even terminated research funding for mRNA vaccines — one of the most promising innovations in medical research.

There are a few glimmers of hope, and we are now seeing pushback at every level. The public is outraged at the enormous harm this effort has wrought. Dozens of courts have put restraining orders on the Administration’s actions. But courts can only play defense.

As the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, I will continue to lead the fight against this shortsighted, dangerous plan. Congress is an institution that responds to external pressure, and we need to bring the pressure from Americans everywhere if we are going to protect ourselves from this lawless and reckless Trump administration.

I want to close with an example that hits close to home for me and for millions of American families. In my district, scores of research programs at Yale University’s graduate programs are funded by NIH grants. One PhD student at Yale, whose passion for science was inspired by their stepmother’s melanoma diagnosis, was awarded the NIH Chemistry-Biology Interface Training Grant, which they are using to explore mechanisms of cancer metastasis.

This student told my office, “The scientists I know … are terrified that the essential research and development done by academia will be slowed or stopped, hindering the development of life-saving therapies.”

I am a cancer survivor. I am alive due to the gift of science and biomedical research. One way or another, cancer touches the lives of almost every single American family. Imagine what will happen to those families now, with these agencies obliterated.