At a House Appropriations Committee hearing on Wednesday, Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) questioned Sec. RFK Jr. about his handling of measles outbreaks in the US.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00The ranking member, Ms. Delauro.
00:02Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
00:04Let me just one area of correction
00:06which has to do with the measles issue, Mr. Secretary.
00:09You keep comparing the U.S. to other countries.
00:13You compare us to Europe.
00:14But the Europe you are referring to is the WHO European region.
00:19That's 53 countries in Europe and in Asia,
00:21including those with low vaccination rates like Romania.
00:25That has never eliminated measles.
00:27If you compare us to Western Europe countries,
00:29that we often compare ourselves to, like Great Britain,
00:32they have seen no measles death this year.
00:34Let me move to the NIH.
00:37In your testimony, you say you want to quote,
00:41and I quote,
00:42rescale our biomedical research budget, unquote.
00:45Excuse me, but that's BS.
00:47You are not rescaling NIH research.
00:49You are proposing to cut it by $20 billion.
00:52And according to our colleagues in the Senate,
00:54NIH has effectively cut research funding by $2.7 billion.
00:59This year in comparison to the same period last year.
01:03That's a cut of 35% during that period.
01:05That includes cutting cancer research by 31%.
01:09This is the report put out by the Senate.
01:11Trump's war on science,
01:13which goes into detail about how we are,
01:17in fact, dealing with cutting scientific research.
01:21Mr. Secretary, are you freezing or withholding funding
01:25that Congress appropriated in 2025
01:28for life-saving NIH research?
01:31Let me address your first issue first,
01:37because I want to correct you.
01:39We have about 1,100 measles cases in this country.
01:43The growth rate last year was 15 additional,
01:45so we have plateaued.
01:48Mexico has roughly the same number
01:50with a third of our population,
01:52and they got 300 extra cases last week.
01:56Canada has more measles, 1,500.
02:00They have one-eighth of our population.
02:03Your Western Europe has about 6,000,
02:06which is 10 times the number that we have.
02:08Oh, you are wrong about what you said earlier.
02:11We can discuss that,
02:12but I think one has to consider whether or not
02:15we're dealing with decades of data
02:18proving how effective and safe
02:19the measles vaccine is.
02:22I want to move to that.
02:23I want my questions answered
02:24on are you freezing and withholding funding
02:27that Congress appropriated in 2025
02:29for life-saving NIH research?
02:33We are not withholding any funding
02:35for life-saving research.
02:37Do you commit to following the law?
02:40Of course.
02:40Are you fully obligating funding
02:42that Congress appropriated?
02:45We appropriated.
02:46It is the law of the land for NIH research
02:48and to obligate those funds
02:51by September 30th of this year.
02:54Or are you planning to break the law
02:55by impounding
02:57congressionally appropriated funds?
02:59If you appropriate me the funds,
03:01I'm going to spend them.
03:02We have.
03:03We have.
03:04In the bill,
03:04you are cutting the NIH
03:06by $18 billion.
03:08Or you're proposing to cut it
03:09by $20 billion.
03:11The Congress appropriated those funds.
03:13It passed into law.
03:15It's part of the 2024 budget.
03:17And we are under a continuing resolution
03:19that has adopted the 2024 numbers.
03:22How then can you justify
03:24cutting $20 billion
03:26from the biomedical research budget?
03:29If you appropriate the money to me,
03:33I'm going to spend that money.
03:34We have appropriated,
03:36Mr. Secretary.
03:36I'm going to spend it.
03:37Then you're going to spend it.
03:38You're not going to cut $20 billion
03:39from the NIH.
03:41The White House proposal
03:43is to do very, very large cuts
03:45at NIH.
03:47Well, that is contrary
03:49to the money appropriated.
03:52Ranking member.
03:53Yes.
03:53If Congress appropriates me the money,
03:55I'm going to spend the money.
03:58You have the power of the purse here.
04:00I'm sure you know that.
04:01Thank you for reiterating that.
04:02But I think that I'm not sure
04:03the administration really has
04:05internalized that,
04:06particularly Mr. Vogt
04:07hasn't internalized that,
04:09when he says that we can,
04:11we can, in fact,
04:13impound money.
04:14The money is there.
04:15The 2024 budget
04:16includes the funding for the NIH.
04:19Will you commit to spending the money
04:20that is in 2024 in that budget?
04:22As I said,
04:24ranking member,
04:25if you appropriate the money,
04:27I'm going to spend that money.
04:28The money has been appropriated,
04:30so the answer to that is
04:31if you're not willing
04:34to accept the funds
04:35that have been lawfully voted
04:37by members of the House and Senate
04:40on the money
04:41for the National Institutes of Health.
04:43Well, I'm going to hold you to your word
04:45that that funding is there.
04:47It should be transferred
04:48from 2024 to 2025,
04:50and you've cut already
04:52$20 billion.
04:54Let's get that money back.
04:55Let's get that money back.
04:57You have an obligation
04:58to carry out the law
04:59and to implement
05:00what the Congress has done.
05:05Unbelievable.
05:07Unbelievable.
05:09Chronic disease and tobacco.
05:10Tobacco use is a major contributor
05:12to chronic disease
05:13and is a leading preventable
05:14cause of death in our nation.
05:16Each year,
05:17killing nearly 500,000 Americans,
05:20costing the nation
05:20nearly $250 billion
05:22in health care costs.
05:24CDC's tips
05:24from former smokers' media campaign alone
05:27is estimated
05:27to have saved
05:28more than $7 billion
05:29in health care costs
05:30by helping more than
05:311 million smokers quit.
05:33Why did you eliminate
05:34CDC's Office of Smoking and Health,
05:37an office that reduces
05:38the number of kids
05:38using tobacco products,
05:40helps order tobacco users to quit,
05:41and saves taxpayers dollars?
05:47We have,
05:48under the reorganization,
05:51and I'm going to talk
05:52very, very broadly,
05:54because as of 4 o'clock
05:55yesterday afternoon,
05:57we are under a court order
05:59not to do any further planning
06:01on the reorganization,
06:03and I've been advised
06:05by my attorneys
06:06not to talk about it.
06:08But I will just say broadly,
06:10many of the programs
06:12that the Democrats
06:13are now saying
06:13were cut at CDC
06:15were not cut at all.
06:17Those programs
06:18were transferred
06:18to the Administration
06:20for Healthy America.
06:22But I'm not allowed,
06:23I'm not permitted
06:24to talk in any more detail
06:27because of a court order.
06:29I know we're just dealing
06:31with words.
06:32You're transferred here,
06:33there's less money overall
06:34for the agency,
06:36therefore there's less money
06:37for the programs.
06:38In both 2024, 2025,
06:39Congress, again,
06:41power of the purse
06:42resides here,
06:43appropriating $246 million
06:45for CDC's tobacco
06:47prevention programs.
06:49Do you commit
06:50to following the law,
06:51again, fully obligating
06:52those funds
06:53so that we can help
06:54adults who want
06:54to quit using tobacco
06:55and prevent teens
06:57from becoming addicted?
06:58Allow me to answer
06:59that by pointing out
07:00the absolute cataclysmic
07:04disorganization
07:06of this agency
07:07under your oversight
07:10for 40 years.
07:12We had nine separate
07:14offices of women's health.
07:18When we consolidate,
07:19then the Democrats say
07:20we're eliminating them.
07:21We're not.
07:22We're still appropriating
07:23the $3.7 billion,
07:24but we're not keeping
07:26all nine.
07:27We had eight separate offices
07:29for minority health.
07:30We eliminated one.
07:31We had 27 HIV offices.
07:34Okay, let me just,
07:35I'm going to interrupt.
07:35We had 59 behavioral health programs.
07:38I'm well over time.
07:39If you could just get us
07:40what has been eliminated,
07:42why you're doing it,
07:43and the criteria
07:44by which the elimination
07:45has occurred.
07:46That is information
07:47that this committee needs
07:49in order to be able
07:50to do our job
07:51in terms of appropriating funds.
07:52Thank you for your indulgence.
07:53And we will gladly provide
07:54that to you,
07:55but right now we're under
07:55a court order
07:56that prohibits us
07:57from doing so.
07:59You know, sir.
07:59Okay.
08:00Well, we're going to-