He will appear before an Education and Workforce subcommittee Friday. Next week, Kennedy is set to testify in a Senate Appropriations subcommittee, the Senate HELP Committee and the Senate Finance Committee.
Thursday will mark Kennedy’s first appearance on Capitol Hill since a highly contentious Senate Finance Committee hearing last September, where Democrats and even some Republicans grilled him about his vaccine views and leadership shakeups at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Kennedy’s hearings are about the HHS budget and he’ll likely face sharp questions from Democrats about the administration’s priorities: the White House proposal would cut HHS funding by 12.5 percent relative to what Congress approved for the current fiscal year, including deep reductions to the National Institutes of Health and the creation of a new Administration for a Healthy America (AHA).
The White House proposed a similar budget last year, but Congress ultimately allotted the agency $33 billion more than what the administration requested, with no funding for the AHA.
Kennedy’s written testimony provided in advance of his afternoon hearing will highlight the administration’s wins that are part of the Make America Healthy Again movement, including revamped dietary guidelines, working with companies to eliminate artificial food dyes, and an ongoing review of baby formula.
Kennedy will also talk about the administration’s drug pricing efforts and urge Congress to codify Trump’s Most Favored Nation deals.
Notably absent is any formal reference to vaccines, as the White House tries to navigate a political tightrope ahead of the midterm elections. Kennedy and his vaccine-skeptical allies have upended federal vaccine policy and made sweeping changes to the childhood vaccine schedule this year, moves that could be a liability for Republicans in November.
