Dems blitz RFK Jr. on vaccine record, HHS cuts

• The administration has made massive changes to the health bureaucracy on his watch, including cutting thousands of jobs and consolidating operations.
• Critics and public health experts have warned the changes and funding cuts put the department's core functions at risk.

Driving the news: Kennedy, in his opening remarks of Wednesday's House budget hearing, said the solution to health crises in the U.S. is not "throwing more money at it."

• He said the administration's budget request outlines several priorities for his department, including consolidating programs to address mental health, addressing nutrition and "healthy lifestyles," eliminating DEI funding and ending research "based on radical gender ideology."
• In one breakout moment, Kennedy dodged questions from Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) over whether he would vaccinate his children today. He said he would "probably" vaccinate them for measles but said his opinions on vaccines "are irrelevant."
• Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, said she was "horrified" that Kennedy would not encourage families to vaccinate their children against measles, chickenpox or polio.

Context: Kennedy for years has pushed the debunked link between childhood vaccines and autism, going so far as to reject the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's own findings.

• "Vaccine safety experts, including experts at CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), agree that MMR vaccine is not responsible for recent increases in the number of children with autism," CDC says on its informational website about the measles shot.

State of play: DeLauro also slammed Kennedy over DOGE-driven cuts at the nation's health agencies.

• "I'm worried about a future public health crisis that emerges," she said.

In a fiery moment, Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.) asked Kennedy about the rationale behind eliminating LIHEAP, which assists poor people in paying for heat in the winter and cooling in the summer.

• Kennedy began to speak about his brother, to which Watson Coleman replied, "I don't care about your past."
• Kennedy responded, "My time has expired."
• She shot back,"Well, then so has your legitimacy."

Zoom in: Republican Rep. Mike Simpson (Idaho), a former dentist, raised concerns about Kennedy's push to remove fluoride from water, asking to see studies that suggest it is harmful.

• "We better put a lot more money into dental education, because we're going to need a whole lot more dentists," Simpson said.
• Kennedy defended his position, saying fluoride impacts kids' IQs.

What we're watching: Kennedy faced bipartisan questions about cuts to health agencies before the Senate HELP committee Wednesday.

• The hearing was interrupted early on by protesters criticizing Kennedy.

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) clashed with Kennedy, arguing the secretary's initial hesitance to endorse the measles vaccine during the worst outbreak of the virus in years contracted his confirmation hearing testimony.

• Murphy said Kennedy had "consistently been undermining" the efficacy of the vaccine, pointing to Kennedy's comments that there is fetal debris in the vaccine and that it had never been fully tested for safety. Kennedy replied, "all true."
• "If I advise you to swim in a lake that I knew there to be alligators in, wouldn't you want me to tell you there were alligators in it?" Kennedy replied.
• After back-and-forth, Kennedy said, "I am not going to just tell people everything is safe and effective if I know that there's issues." He added that people have "lost faith" because they've been "lied to by public officials."
• While some vaccines are created using fetal stem cell lines, they do not contain material from aborted fetuses as Kennedy has repeatedly claimed.

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Editor's note: This story was updated with information from the Senate hearing.