Democrats Press Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Vaccine Policy as Measles Cases Surge

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. faced a barrage from Democrats during House hearings on Thursday, with lawmakers pressing him on vaccine policy and a surge in measles cases across the country.

Axios reports that Rep. Linda Sánchez (D-Calif.) told Kennedy, “The anti-vaccine rhetoric you ran on and the anti-vaccine actions you have taken over the last year clearly correlates with the dramatic increases,” while Kennedy shot back that she was repeating “misinformation” and argued there is a “global measles epidemic.”

ABC News

In the same exchange, Kennedy acknowledged a key point when Sánchez asked if the measles vaccine could have saved the life of a child who died in an outbreak in Texas last year, saying “it’s possible, certainly.”

The BBC similarly describes lawmakers grilling Kennedy over “the worst measles outbreak in decades,” as he tried to shift focus away from vaccines during his first hearing before Congress in months.

ABC News adds that Sánchez referenced a measles outbreak that spread across West Texas last year, infecting more than 700 people and leading to the deaths of two unvaccinated school-aged children, the first U.S. deaths from measles in a decade.

NBC4 Washington frames the hearing as a “vaccine standoff” in which Kennedy repeatedly refused to answer whether President Donald Trump approved the decision to end CDC’s pro-vaccine public messaging campaign.

Across outlets, Kennedy’s responses converged on the same narrow admissions—“It’s possible, certainly,” and later “yes, it’s safe for most people”—even as Democrats accused him of undermining public health.

Alongside vaccine questions, lawmakers confronted Kennedy on staffing cuts and the administration’s health budget proposal.

Axios says the hearings marked Kennedy’s first appearance before Congress in more than six months and that Democrats tried to tie measles concerns to his vaccine criticism while also pressing him on “deep staff cuts at federal health agencies.”

BBC

In Axios’s account, Kennedy defended his department’s staffing trajectory, saying after falling from 82,000 to 62,000 employees last year, it is now up to 72,000 and plans to bring on 12,000 more, adding, “We will have made up for all the employees that we lost.”

Bloomberg Government News reports that Kennedy told House lawmakers the administration’s budget request would “slash the department by nearly $16 billion,” and he argued it “invests in prevention because preventing disease costs less and delivers better outcomes than treating it.”

The BBC places the budget figure at about “£11.8bn” in its conversion and says Kennedy was at the hearing to present a proposal to cut his agency’s budget in the coming fiscal year by about “$16bn,” a 12.5% decrease from last year.

NBC4 Washington characterizes the budget dispute as a “more than 12% proposed cut to his department’s budget,” and says Kennedy sought to defend that while dodging arrows from angry Democrats.

The Miami Times adds that Kennedy testified he was “not pleased with how spending cuts to programs that help lower-income Americans afford food will affect his efforts to bolster healthy eating habits,” and he said, “Am I happy about the cuts? No, I’m not happy about the cuts.”

The hearing also turned repeatedly to fraud investigations and how the administration is pursuing them, with Democrats and Republicans pressing Kennedy on whether the approach is even-handed.

“Lawmakers clash with RFK Jr as he shifts focus away from vaccines Lawmakers grilled Robert F Kennedy Jr's handling of the worst measles outbreak in decades, as the US health secretary tried to shift focus away from his vaccine stances during his first hearing before Congress in months”

BBC

Notus describes that the Ways and Means Committee hearing “kicked off a marathon of Kennedy appearances in Congress over the next week” and that Democrats drilled him over “the administration’s health fraud investigations.”

In Bloomberg Government News’s account, Kennedy argued that concerns over fraud are “bipartisan,” saying, “The application, the implementation of anti-fraud has not been bipartisan,” and he said “It’s the people at the top that help to perpetuate this fraud and the administration’s position seems to be that it’s only the recipients and not the providers that commit fraud.”

The same Bloomberg report quotes Kennedy saying, “It’s one of the reasons that Medicaid doubled during the Biden administration because we are paying for fraud now as much as for medicine,” and it adds that he discussed waivers that allow states to send Medicaid payments to family members for caregiving services, calling them “rife with fraud.”

Notus reports that Democrats accused Republicans of focusing on fraud by individuals instead of providers and using fraud to justify sweeping health care cuts in Trump’s tax bill.

In The New York Times transcript, Rep. Linda Sánchez pressed Kennedy on the vaccine messaging campaign while also raising fraud, and the transcript includes a line from the exchange: “If we’re going to pursue fraudsters, it’s not just the people who might make simple, honest mistakes that could be corrected.”

Axios adds another layer by reporting that Rep. Darin LaHood (R-Ill.) asked about “mismanagement and bungled drug reviews” at the Food and Drug Administration, and Kennedy defended the agency and Commissioner Marty Makary, saying it is speeding up drug review times and meeting all its review deadlines.

Beyond measles and fraud, the hearings featured disputes over comments Kennedy made about psychiatric medications and Black children, which he denied.

NBC4 Washington describes a fight between Kennedy and Rep. Terri Sewell, a Democrat from Alabama, when Kennedy “vehemently denied making remarks he'd said in 2024,” and it quotes the 2024 remarks as: “Psychiatric drugs — which every Black kid is now just standard put on Adderall, SSRIs, benzos, which are known to induce violence, and those kids are going to have a chance to go somewhere and get re-parented to live in a community where there'll be no cellphones, no screens, you'll actually have to talk to people.”

Megyn Kelly – The Devil May Care

NBC4 Washington then quotes Kennedy’s response to Sewell’s question: “I don't even know what that phrase means,” and it adds that he said, “I'm not going to answer something I didn't say.”

The Washington Post similarly notes that Democrats confronted Kennedy about past controversial statements and includes Kennedy’s remark, “I’m a lifelong Democrat,” during a moment when several Democrats praised his family legacy before criticizing him.

The New York Times transcript includes a broader framing of the controversy, quoting a Democratic confrontation that said, “Our nation has a long and painful history of separating Black children from their families,” and it continues, “When you suggested re-parenting Black children, when you sow doubt about the safety of vaccines and when you promote unproven statements that have no basis in science, you endanger the lives of everyone across this nation.”

ABC News adds that the hearing included questions about Kennedy’s comments about the possible causes of autism, and it quotes Utah Republican Rep. Blake Moore saying he was “underwhelmed” by what the administration has released so far about possible causes.

BBC reports that Kennedy received criticism from at least one Republican, Blake Moore of Utah, who said he had a neurodivergent son and was “underwhelmed” with the Trump administration’s autism research efforts.

The hearings also set up what comes next for Kennedy’s vaccine agenda, with multiple outlets describing legal and procedural obstacles and the prospect of further congressional fights.

“Health Secretary Robert F”

Daily Herald

Axios reports that Kennedy said he plans to overhaul and put new members on the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, the expert panel that makes recommendations for services that insurers must cover fully under the Affordable Care Act.

NBC4 Washington

BBC says Kennedy’s vaccine changes have been challenged in court, noting that “in March, a judge struck down many of those changes,” finding the new members of the advisory panel had not been properly appointed, and it adds that HHS indicated it would appeal but “has yet to do so.”

The Washington Post adds that Kennedy’s actions included “reconstituted a federal vaccine advisory panel,” and it notes that “actions blocked by a federal judge last month” were part of what Democrats attacked.

Notus describes the Ways and Means hearing as the first test of how disciplined Kennedy can stay as the White House seeks to quiet controversial stances ahead of the midterms, and it says the hearing followed “the administration significantly pared back federal childhood vaccine recommendations.”

ABC News reports that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention removed the universal recommendation for multiple shots, and it says this was “later temporarily blocked by a federal judge.”

Looking ahead, The Washington Post says the “most anticipated showdown on the Hill is with Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana),” and it says that hearing “will be Wednesday,” while NBC4 Washington says the Ways and Means hearing kicked off an expected sprint of seven budget hearings he’ll attend across congressional committees and subcommittees over the next week.