Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will come under bipartisan pressure in the Senate on Thursday to show his shake-up at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has not left the country more vulnerable to outbreaks and other public health threats.
Kennedy pushed out CDC Director Susan Monarez last week after she battled with him over vaccine policies, prompting the resignations of four senior leaders at the health agency, who said Kennedy was politicizing public health.
Monarez, the first-ever CDC director to be confirmed by the Senate, was on the job for only about a month before she was removed.
Now, Kennedy is facing calls for his resignation from Democrats and current and former HHS staff, while some Republicans have signaled they are uneasy — at best — over his leadership, ahead of a Senate Finance Committee hearing at 10 a.m. EDT Thursday.
Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), who voted to confirm the HHS secretary, said the “chaos” at public health agencies needs to stop.
“I don’t know who’s right or who’s wrong in the debate that he has provoked with respect to vaccines. I do know that it has not increased confidence in the institution of public health in the chaos that he’s created. They need to get their business straight,” he said.
“You can’t have the institution of public health in turmoil. You can’t have it.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) told reporters Robert F. Kennedy Jr. would face “hard questions” in the hearing.
“He’s got to take responsibility for, you know: We confirm these people. We go through a lot of work to get them confirmed. And they’re in office a month?” he said.
Federal health agencies have been in a state of upheaval under the HHS secretary, a longtime vaccine skeptic who previously criticized the agencies he now runs.
The CDC has lost thousands of employees and nearly half its budget. Within the span of just a month, the agency faced a fatal shooting at its Atlanta headquarters, laid off 600 workers and lost five of its top leaders.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in March forced out Peter Marks, the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) top vaccine regulator. Marks accused Kennedy of seeking only “subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies” about vaccines.
In June, Kennedy dismissed all 17 members of the CDC’s vaccine advisory panel, replacing them with seven of his handpicked allies, including some noted vaccine skeptics.
While Thursday’s hearing, scheduled before the CDC clash, is ostensibly about the Trump administration’s health agenda, the shake-up of public health agencies is expected to be a key topic of questioning.
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), a physician who cast a key vote to confirm Kennedy after receiving assurances on vaccines, has played his cards close to the vest. He said the chaos at CDC warranted “oversight,” but hasn’t specified what that might look like.
Cassidy, chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP), has called for the CDC to delay an upcoming vaccine advisory panel meeting in light of the leadership loss.
“If the meeting proceeds, any recommendations made should be rejected as lacking legitimacy given the seriousness of the allegations and the current turmoil in CDC leadership,” Cassidy said in a recent statement.
Senators are also looking to Trump to “deal with” the situation unfolding at the CDC.
“I think the president will have to make the decision about whether [firing Monarez] was the right call, so I think this is an issue that he is going to have to deal with,” said Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.). “I think this falls under the category of he wanted [Kennedy], he has him, he has to deal with the issue.”
The White House has maintained support for Kennedy, brushing aside criticism and even reinstalling his pick for the FDA’s top vaccine regulator after he was briefly ousted at the behest of conservative activist Laura Loomer.
“If people are not aligned with the president or secretary’s vision to make America healthy again, then we will show them the door,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said last week about Monarez.
Other Senate Republicans backed Kennedy’s moves and signaled they did not question his motivations.
Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), a member of the Finance Committee, said he regrets his July vote to confirm Monarez.
“I was very optimistic that it was going to work out, but obviously it didn’t, and I’m sorry that that happened,” Marshall told reporters Wednesday.
Marshall said he wants to give Kennedy “a chance to tell this story and his motivations, rather than jumping off the Democrat narrative, which is just wrapped around the axis on vaccines.”
When asked about the exodus of leadership at the CDC, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said “good riddance” and blasted one of the departing leaders, who is gay, for his “risky behavior” and “lifestyle” choices.
For Democrats, this latest chapter is only further confirmation Kennedy never should have been put in charge of the nation’s health care.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), ranking member of the Senate HELP Committee, has demanded a bipartisan investigation and immediate hearing on the CDC upheaval. He also called for Kennedy’s resignation.
“The reality is that Mr. Kennedy has profited from and built a career on sowing mistrust in vaccines,” Sanders wrote in a New York Times op-ed. “Mr. Kennedy is putting Americans’ lives in danger, and he must resign.”
“I think it was abysmal. It’s just like humiliating to see, just like the laughingstock that Trump and Kennedy are turning our incredibly important health departments and agencies into,” Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) told The Hill. “I’m certainly going to be raising that with my colleagues here this week.”
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) predicted only more disorder as long as Kennedy remains in power.
“RFK Jr. is a disaster, and it was apparent to everybody that he would be a disaster. Some people, you know, crossed their fingers and hoped it would work out, but he’s just creating chaos,” Kaine said. “And look, we’re coming into flu season. COVID variants are hitting. He’s exactly the wrong guy for this time.”
