so can you tell this committee what is step 4? sec. kennedy: it's making a fearless inventory. mr. veasey: making a fearless inventory of ourselves. and you remember that one. do you remember step 12? sec. kennedy: yeah. it's having had a spiritual awakening we try to help other alcoholics and addicts. mr. veasey: so tell me, mr. secretary, yes or no. does cutting off treatment for people still suffering align with step 4 had and step 12? sec. kennedy: we're not cutting off treatment for anybody, congressman. as i said, i'm happy to explain it, but you don't give me any chance. [[overlapping speakers] mr. veasey: mr. secretary, i've heard your story. again, i think that it's great that you talked about your recovery. but man, you can't pour the ladder and shut the door. there are people like president trump's family and your family that have resources, but there are families like mine and

secretary vance's -- >> time has expired, gentlemen. sec. kennedy: we're not taking money away from anybody. >> we're going to take a quick 5-minute break. we'll be right back in 5 minutes. rs. chair carter: i will recognize dr. miller meeks for five minutes of questioning. rep. miller-meeks: thank. >> i thank the secretary for being here with us today. secretary kennedy, i'm going to

gauge my questioning on things you were just asked can. as you indicated, you're aware of the opioid epidemic. as a physician, 90% of acute pain patients receive open opioids to manage their pain, whether they need them or not. between 2011 and 2019 op opioid prescriptions dressed by 40%, including 150 million prescriptions, and this is true across most audiences. however, among medicare patients op opioid prescribing actually increased. further more, medicare's sheriff of opioid prescribing increased substantially from 20% of the prescriptions in 2011 to 35% in 2019. and that represents a 75% increase in just under a decade. i have a bill, the alternatives to pain act, that with would increase medicare ben fisheries

access to non-op yoid alternatives by eliminating patient cost sharing, prohibiting the use of utilization management and encouraginging a dialogue between patients and their providers. i was also the director of the department of public health in iowa, which handle substance use disorder and behavioral use disorders. i think given your personal experience with this there was something you were trying to say and if you would with, i'd like to let you complete your thought on the previous question. sec. kennedy: thank you, congresswoman. this has been a priority for me. i've been 42 years in recovery. i lost a brother to this disease. i lost a disease during the pandemic. we've all lost friends and family. this is a national tragedy. we could be talking about solutions to it and we could be working together. there's no such thing as

republican children or democratic children. all our kids are affected by this. we should be able to talk with each other about this, without the vilification, and try to figure out the best ways for treating our kids. the trump administration -- the federal government has not done a good job at this. the trump administration's policy is to return that money to the states and let them figure it out. as i said before, addiction in west virginia, or in iowa, is very different than if san francisco. the solutions are different. and we need to turn those states into labs of innovation. they can figure out how to treat their population the most. some of the best treatment centres i've ever been to are in rural ten tennessee with no federal funding. we with want to unleash that

spit in the united states to make sure we're doing the best we can for our kids. and in answer to your first question, there's a very, very exciting new drug out there, which is a nonopioid, very effective pain reliever, and we're were doing everything we can across our department to promote access to that solution. mrs. miller-meeks: and would with you commit to working with me? sec. kennedy: absolutely. thank you, congresswoman. mrs. miller-meeks: thank you. you've heard derns about members on hhs restructuring and having restructureded a department, it's never an easy task. we also know that sometimes money goes to people within the bureaucracy rather than to the actual delivery of care as you've indicated. and there's been changes in nihal funding and hhs funding. my district, which encompasses

southwest iowa is very rural. i was wondering if you can explain how hhs will be investing in rural america and specifically rural iowa to ensure americans still have about says to vital health care services. sec. kennedy: we have a number of programs for doing that. for expanding health care in rural areas. one of those that i'm most excited about is the -- are these innovations in telemedicine and ai nursing. that is going to deal with some of the treatment, the diagnosis issues. i've seen these systems in action and they're extraordinary and, you know, ai can now diagnose a disease as good as any doctor. as good as i'd say the average doctor. mrs. miller-meeks: thank you for clarifying. my time's expired. thank you very much, secretary. i yield back. >> the general lady yields. the chair recognizes the general lady from texas for 5 minute of

questions. >> thank you, mr. chairman. secretary kennedy, do you know the requirements for hospitals under the emergency medical treatment and labour act, which is commonly called by its shortened name? sec. kennedy: yes, i did. >> and generally, what do you know it to require of hospitals? sec. kennedy: that every hospital has to treat anybody that comes to the emergency room. >> and they have to provide stabilizing care, regardless of their ability to pay, and regardless of the type of care required, correct? sec. kennedy: exactly. >> and secretary kennedy, you understand that according to the american college of emergency physicians, the american college of obstetricians p gynecologists, the american association and the society for maternal fetal medicine in certain circumstances necessary stabilizing care for the purposes of fulfilling the hospital's obligation could be providing abortion care, correct? sec. kennedy: in cases, for

example, echl ctopic pregnancies and botched abortions and miscarriages, those hospitals are required to provide care. elective abortions they're not. >> but they are required to provide abortion care if that is the care that a physician treating the patient determines in their medical judgment is the care necessary to stabilize the patient and protect their life and health, correct? sec. kennedy: and because there was confusion about that, i sent out a letter to every hospital in america, restating that in those conditions, they must provide care. >> okay. and i think that that's consistent with what we have heard from mrmg physicians, obstetricians, other treating physicians that have made clear that in certain circumstances clinically recognized evidence-based necessary medical

treatment in various circumstances, including but not limited to the ones you just listed, abortion care is the necessary stabilizing care. some kind of care that may end a pregnancy. so in those cases, you would would agree with me that it requires the hospitals to provide that care? sec. kennedy: yes. that's what president trump believes. >> and you issued -- you just mentioneded that you issued some guidance to all the hospitals and care providers across the country, rescinding some guidance from the prior administration and making clear that that is the requirement. now, the guidance that you rescinded was issued shortly after the dobbs decision, which was announced three years ago today. and created some confusion. and so i think one thing that's important, one thing that i hear from doctors in states like mine, is that this kind of guidance and clarity is very, very important to giving the practicing physicians the comfort that they need to do

their jobs. and so i think it's really important that you continue, and i hope that you'll continue to make as clear as you have today in this hearing, that it ensures and protects pregnant women in all 50 states. sec. kennedy: i will continue to do that, congresswoman. >> and with the time i have left, on one other note, in response to some questions from earlier, as others did as well, several of the letters that our committee has sent or members of our committee have sent to you with concerns about actions being taken at hhs. and certainly i agree with of a lot of those concerns. i i represent houston, texas and we have an incredible amount of research going on through national constitutes of health, incredible development of all kinds of transformative

therapies and treatments, and so we have a lot of concerns. i i know you mentioned that you've gotten thousands of letters from conditioning could, and i can appreciate that. but i would would ask that recognizing this committee, the house energy and commerce committee, has youred and is the committee of jurisdiction over hhs, at the requests that come from the ranking member get prioritized by your staff. in terms of looking at congressional responses i think it would be very important because we have jurisdiction, and you've indicated you'll work with a lot of folks here on a lot of different issues and getting those answers and being able to work to address the concerns that we we have is really important. i just ask that you prioritize those responses. sec. kennedy: you have my commitment to do thattics congresswoman. i'll also say this. and it the same thing i said before. it's not our intention to cut

anything that is the kind of research you're talking about. it critical research. we have to keep america the hub in that kind of research. it's compliance. there was some mistakes made. . >> thank you, my time has expired. >> the chair now recognizes the general lady from florida for 5 minute of questioning. >> thank you, mr. chairman and thank you secretary kennedy for being here. i know that this has been a bit of an interesting morning, but i do appreciate your commitment to the initiative to make america healthy again, as well as all the other reforms that you're looking to initiate. as someone who represents a very large and rural district in florida, and cares deeply about access to care, especially for our underserved community, i've seen the good hhs can do. i've also seen where the bureaucracy falls short in helping people, particularly in rural areas.

so i'm encouraged significantly by your willingsness and efforts to restructure the department. now, i know that there are many broken systems within hhs. and it's going to take a disrupter. and sir, you are a disrupter. that's what we need in those times. because so many people, especially here in congress, they want to maintain the same broken status quo. i think collectively as americans, whether you're republican or democrat, we can dprae agree he that we have sick care in this country, not health care. and the culture has been all about maintenance rather than prevention. so i appreciate all your efforts in working to try to address that. so i'm just going to jump right in. em as you know, secretary kennedy, under previous administration of joe biden, maternal healthal deserts expanded significantly, leaving over 2.5 million women without access to any sort of maternal health care. in fact i believe it was 1 many 25 maternal health clinics closed under the previous administration. you've pointed out that this are

more than 40 different maternal health programs scattered across hhs. so from where i sit that sounds like a lot of bureaucracy. and i want us to focus on patient outcomes and improving those. such like you do. so walk us through how you're planning on streamlining and making a more coordinated effort to deliver health care to moms and moms to be around the country. sec. kennedy: i mean, it's a priority for president trump. it's a priority for me personally. we have a maternal health crisis in this country and it impacts minorities. black mothers have a 2.6 times greater chance of dying in childbirth a black mother with a college education has 2.6 times greater chance of dying in childbirth. than a white mother with a high school education. so it's impacting those community. but it's impacting every american. pe we need to protect our moms.

we need to protect our kids. and we with need to do a lot better. and we intend to do that in this administration. >> well, as someone eight weeks out from delivery -- i know you can't see it because i'm so short -- but i appreciate that and i look forward to working with you so we can streamline these services so moms can get the help and access to resources they need. changing gears a little bit here. the dhs inspector general has confirmed for us what so many of us have known for a long time. that under the biden-harris administration, hhs, which is responsible for unaccompanied children, they lost track of over 340,000 unaccompanied migrant children. they failed to vet sponsors, and they blocked law enforcement from getting critical information to ensure the safety of these children. p now, we know several investigative reports both from government sourceses and outside have reported that these kids

were sent to unsafe addresses. even nonexistent ones. they were exposed to trafficking and exploitation and many of them have not been found to this day. now, i know you've had a lot on your plate. it been a crazy six months, but i know this is a top priority for hhs. so like so many other things you've been tasked with cleaning up, what specific steps is hhs taking to restore the account canability, improve the sponsor vetting and ensure law enforcement can do it job to protect these children and find these children. sec. kennedy: i mean, the major reason that the biden administration lost track of all those children is because they were emphasizing speed over security. and there were political reasons for that. they wanted to get the kids out of u.s. custody. so they were handing them off to anybody. they didn't require background checkses. they didn't require

identification even. i've watched horror stories of the same person picking up child after child after child. using different names and different addresses. one of the addresses was a strip club. one of the addresses was a parking lot. one of the addresses was an empty lot, shipping containers. this character was getting all these kids. one person got 42 kids to one address. what we're doing now is dna testing on every sponsor. we'rer doing personal identification. we're doing background checks and we're doing income verification. >> thank you, mr. secretary. >> thank you, my time is up. >> the chair now recognizes the general lady from new york, for 5 minute of questioning. >> thank you so much, mr. chairman and thank you secretary kennedy for being here today. it's actually not our first time meeting. we met a very, very lopping long

time ago when i was 9 years old at a river keeper event. and i remember you talking about science and environmental action importance at that time. listening to a lot of your discussion and love the messages that you provide to people, you talk a lot about corporate influence and corruption. in government. and this is an area that's very important to me and it's an area that i do a lot of work in. i am, as a public servant, completely financially divested of any conflicts of interest with any health care companies, any stocks, any lawsuits that i would financially benefit from. are you?

sec. kennedy: yes. ms. ocasio-cortez: you're completely divested? sec. kennedy: yes. ms. ocasio-cortez: you have no financial interests in any lawsuit, crypto question , none of that? sec. kennedy: i own bitcoin. ms. ocasio-cortez: okay. and do you have nil -- any other securities or assets? sec. kennedy: hi to go through this with the government of ethics. al and i had a few interests that were very minor that i divested. ms. ocasio-cortez: okay , just checking. sec. kennedy: it's a good question. i'm glad you asked. ms. ocasio-cortez: so thank you for that. in the health care space, something that we've both spoken to, some of the worst would actors are in the for-profit medical space. sec. kennedy: are? ms. ocasio-cortez: are in for-profit, health insurance, big pharma, et cetera. and one of the worst companies actually is united health care in this respect. united health care is the largest health insurance company in the country can. they're the largest employer of

doctors and own thousands of pharmacies, clinics, centers, as well as hospice providers. secretary kennedy, are you aware that president trump's department of justice is reportedly investigating united health care for criminal insurance fraud in some of their for-profit health insurance plans like medical advantage? sec. kennedy: i'm not aware of that investigation. ms. ocasio-cortez: you're not aware that the trump department of justice is investigating the largest insurance company in america? sec. kennedy: i'm not aware of -- ms. ocasio-cortez: for fraud and medicare advantage. sec. kennedy: noics i'm not aware of that. ms. ocasio-cortez: that you are jurisdiction over. sec. kennedy: it doesn't surprise me. ms. ocasio-cortez: okay. in your submitted testimony you said hhs takes seriously our role as responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars. are you aware that for profit insurance corporations like united health care have been found to be defrauding public dollars of more than $80 billion a year?

sec. kennedy: i'm not aware of that number. but i'm aware there's fraud across the for-profit sector. ms. ocasio-cortez: respectfully, secretary kennedy, we're making decisions around waste, fraud and abuse. this is the largest source of waste fraud and abuse of public dollars in the public insurance space. sec. kennedy: $80 billion. ms. ocasio-cortez: $80 billion a year. sec. kennedy: did you say $80 million or billion? ms. ocasio-cortez: with a b, billion. if that's the case, why did you nearly double the rate that taxpayers dollars give for-profit insurance companies like united next year? if you don't know those things? sec. kennedy: double the rate? how did i do that? ms. ocasio-cortez: so your agency nearly doubled the taxpayer dollars that for-profit insurance corporations like

united will be paid next year, meaning these companieses, the largest of whom is under criminal investigation by the trump administration, will be receiving an additional $25 billion from your agency. sec. kennedy: how is that happening? ms. ocasio-cortez: i would would be happy to submit to the congressional record evidence of this. i will expert the cms press release from april 7th of 2025. into the record. which states that medicare strang corporations will now receive a 5.06% increase in payments next year. under your jurisdiction, mr. secretary. this is up from 2.2%. you are doubling the rate that the biden -- >> the general lady's time has expired. [[overlapping speakers] the time is expired. the chair now recognizes the gentleman from michigan, representative james for 5

minutes of questioning. mr. james: mr. secretary, thank you for being here. when it can comes to the health of this country can, as has been said many times before, we don't have a health care system. we have a sick care system. i'm just going to jump directly to my questions here. in your time and your research, do you have any objectives or any ideas op how to reverse the per sers incentives and some of the abuses happening with big companies and big government that are hurting people right now? >> in every level of the system there's a bundle of incentives. that encourage could people, that basically put every actor in the system, pharmaceutical companies, providers, hospitals, insurance companies we're

working through the centre for medical intervention for cmi to explore a number of pilot projects. we'll do just that. and then we want to roll them out across the system. but we're looking for every opportunity. i i have meetings all this week, including with all the big insurance companies that will do exactly that. they want to do it too. they understand this is not what anybody wants. mr. james: and we've spoken with insurance companies too and that's a big issue. but another big issue in the united states is we are still treating all calories equal and they should not be. ultra processed junk food doesn't stack up to the calorie from an apple or fresh produce. we all know that we need to step up and address the fact that ultra processed foods drive obesity, heart disease and

diabetes, but in congress we're still tiptoeing around the fact that 10% of americans even follow current guidelines. the current food system is poise benninging poor people and it's -- poisoning poor people and it's wrong. this drives up costs in our sick care system and it drives up our national debt. it's a national security issue. are there any plans that you can share here today to address the food deserts in urban areas and rural areas across states like michigan. you mention changing some incentives. well, the leading areas before people get sick in the first place, a great place to do it. sec. kennedy: it's the same kind of industry control that put froot loops at the top of the food pyramid.

and we're now going to give americans a four or five-page document that tells them what they should be looking for, particularly in their locality. and when we do that, it's going to drive good food. it's going to reduce the amount of processed food in our school lunch programs and our military and our hospitals and other institutions. and that's going to create markets for good food all over the country. that's one of the ways we penetrate the food deserts. thas who deserve it can have support from us. sec. kennedy: by the way, we will be -- we will have the dietary guidelines out at least by august so we will be months early. i am working with brooke rollins on that. it will be very good. rep. james: the government will

be early on something. that is great. yesterday, you and cms administrator dr. oz secured -- someone sought a screening to determine the best treatment outcomes pick and when the patient finally received the scanned three weeks later, the cancer progressed stage two. the prior authorization reforms are critically necessary. what are you talking to industry folks about to hold them accountable? sec. kennedy: the largest companies in the industry, i brought them all together. they have now made a pledge to us yesterday they are going to get rid of 80% of the prior authorizations. and they are also going to -- they are going to make their systems interoperable so it is

much easier for a doctor. very quickly, before you leave the office you should have the prioritization. chair carter: the chair recognizes the gentleman from massachusetts for five minute of questioning. >> good afternoon, secretary. you have emphasized throughout your career concerns about corruption and conflict of interest in health care, yes? sec. kennedy: about corruption in health care? rep. james: yes -- >>yes. sec. kennedy: yeah. >> and radical transparency, yes? sec. kennedy: yes. >> you explained it to my calling from new york that you have divested yourself, yes? sec. kennedy: yes. rep. auchincloss: and you fired the 17 members because a conference of interest. sec. kennedy: yes. rep. auchincloss: you think everybody should hold themselves to a standard of radical transparency and divestment? sec. kennedy: well, i am going to hold them to that standard. rep. auchincloss: so not

everybody should hold themselves to that? sec. kennedy: oge makes them all by best. rep. auchincloss: so everyone should divest and be radically transparent that works for you? sec. kennedy: yes. rep. auchincloss: does not include people that have been bartman in health and human services policymaking even if they are not in your department? would you want them to be radically transparent as well? sec. kennedy: i do have any control over anybody except those in my department? rep. auchincloss: i think you do. let's talk about how radically transparent you have been to date because i want to ensure for the american public they are getting what you pledged. mr. kelly means is a special government employee and also a white house advisor. you know him well. he introduced you to donald trump is the founder and owner of true med, a company that sells supplements and maybe medical devices you described to people with using pretax dollars. he has described his mission as routing federal funds away from health insurance programs to health savings accounts. mr. means has tremendous

influence over medicare and medicaid based on the executive order on making america healthy again and the one big beautiful bill, which both call for the expansion of hsa usage for these wellness and supplement products. that is a direct revenue stream for his company while he is working in the government. so my question is would you require mr. means to sign the financial disclosure forms you are very familiar with? sec. kennedy: i have no power to do that, but i find it interesting you bring that up. rep. auchincloss: i am going to reclaim my time. sec. kennedy: pharmaceutical company's have been in the white house for generations. rep. auchincloss: my time, secretary. my time. in keeping with radical transparency, would you require that this individual you are very close with who has a major role in shaping the maha agenda, and you have said so yourself publicly many times, would you require him before working on the maha agenda that he signed those disclosure forms? sec. kennedy: i have no power to require that. i can require people in my agency and have done that.

rep. auchincloss: will you continue to work with him if he has not signed those forms? with mr. means if he does not sign those forms? sec. kennedy: i work with everybody, including the pharmaceutical companies and the insurance companies. rep. auchincloss: do think he should respond to the letter i wrote requiring him or asking him i should say to be transparent about potential conflict of interest between true med and cms and the maha agenda? is that something he should do in your opinion to keep with divestment? sec. kennedy: you wrote me a letter? you are saying you wrote me a letter? rep. auchincloss: i wrote mr. means a letter asking him to respond. do you think you should respond? sec. kennedy: that is between you and him. there have been pharmaceutical companies in the white house. rep. auchincloss: you said everyone should follow the standards of radical transparency and divestment. in keeping with what you said at the top of this, should he be radically transparent? sec. kennedy: if you --

have you accepted $400,000 from financial companies? rep. auchincloss: i have disclosed that. let's talk about what happened. sec. kennedy: should you be prevented from accepting money from pharmaceutical company is because it says here you accepted $400,000? rep. auchincloss: you asked "how did i do that?" when asked about the organization. how did that happen? the answer is mr. brad smith. he was in charge of doge health care and his biggest investors already medicare advantage organizations, the five biggest corporations in america -- five biggest health corporations in america. while he was there, he set the rules of reimbursements from his investors. it is because of conflict of interest. do you think that cms should continue to do business with mainstreet health under your watch? is that radically transparent? sec. kennedy: are you saying we should cut medicare advantage? rep. auchincloss: do you think mainstreet health should -- sec. kennedy: are you saying we

should cut medicare advantage? rep. auchincloss: you distract from the fact that you refuse to be transparent with mr. means or mr. smith. i will enter for the record documents. chair carter: without objection. the gentleman's time has expired. the chair now recognizes the gentleman from california for five but as of questioning. >> mr. secretary, thank you for being here. i appreciate your enthusiasm for using artificial intelligence to enhance activity at hhs. i think in your testimony you sent the ai revolution has arrived, and i would agree with you. i was the chairman of the house artificial intelligence task force last year that produced a report in december that had a whole chapter on ai because we believe there is no industry in the united states that will be more radically transformed by ai than health care.

you also testified about the health care cost challenges that we are facing in this country, the fact that we spent between two to three times per capita what other developed countries do and achieve worse health care outcomes. i believe we share the belief that ai can help with that. so i am glad you are making ai to make care more efficient and expediting approvals, which is wonderful. i am wondering how we can catalyze attacking it from the provider standpoint because we have physicians that spend twice as much time on administration as they do on patient care. and we have reports from think tanks that indicate if we utilize ai effectively, we can cut 10% off of the cost of providing health care to americans. what can hhs do to catalyze the adoption of ai and the securing of those benefits on the provider side? sec. kennedy: we are doing that

at every level of the department, and i am surprised it is only 10%. it is just a waste, fraud, and abuse, particularly the fraud. the capacity to detect fraud now -- it has the capacity to detect fraud now. we are using it for that reason. we are using it for diagnostics. we are using it for paperwork. in the agreement i made yesterday with the pharmaceutical companies, it should cut off much more than that from paperwork from doctors. so we are using it everywhere that we can. and we hope to drive it into the health care system in this country at every level, including the providers. rep. obernolte: i think there is no more powerful pulpit for evangelizing that than the post that you hold. i hope you will help drive that. because it is not enough that just hhs uses ai to increase

productivity. we need to make sure we get this adopted within the industry and within the provider community. a follow-up question on that. i have talked to stakeholders across the country about what they are doing to use ai, using ai to improve health care. there is a large level of frustration with organizations like cms. i don't think it is intentional. i think it is a big bureaucracy and they are kind of hiding out. where somebody comes up with a really revolutionary ai based diagnostic tool or treatment option, but there just is not accommodation in the system for it. there is not a billing code or there is no recognition that these can lead to cost savings. obviously come up we want to be good stewards of taxpayer money as well, but how can we change the rules to make sure we are saving the money that we should be saving with ai? sec. kennedy: we need people at medicare, medicaid, and at cms,

leadership that is absolutely committed to this transformation , and we have that today. we have dr. oz. we have chris, who came out of the tech arena and is now using his knowledge to transform what we do there. people send me every day of the week innovative ideas that sound wonderful. we have a way to screen those now. i send them over to chris and clark. we brought people in just to do ai and that kind of transformation. those ideas are being explored one at a time, and the ones that work are being introduced and integrated into our system. we are doing that today. you are going to see major changes over the next eight years. rep. obernolte: i am happy to hear that. i think it will require partnership between the executive branch and us at the legislative branch to make that possible. if you have not read the health

section of our task force report, i would encourage you to peruse that because we are going to need to work together to get this done. thank you very much for your testimony. sec. kennedy: thank you. chair carter: the chair recognizes the gentleman from louisiana for five minutes of questioning. rep. carter: i wanted to ask about how the federal government is getting our prevention and treatment of hiv. i am perplexed why in april you administer patient shuttered nearly every unit in the cdc's division of hiv intervention and reassigned the official dr. merman. given that, cdc has historically been the cornerstone of hiv prevention efforts. do you know the percentage of all federal funding of hiv prevention provided by your agency, cdc? sec. kennedy: congressman, we don't intend to cut hiv treatment. part of the reorganization is reassigning hiv treatment.

rep. carter: respectfully, sir, you have. the response to the question, what i would like you to know is it is 91% of all federal funding for hiv prevention. 91%. these cuts have been devastating for prevention of critical trials you so you don't want to cut, but the reality is you have. sir, in a second. according to a report, aamc, 160 active clinical trials associated with nih overall were terminated in 2025 and more than one third of those 38% investigating topics were related to hiv, aids. mr. chairman, i would like with unanimous consent enter into record impact on nih grant terminations that have been sanctioned and approved by this agency. chair carter: without objection. sec. kennedy: we have 27 hiv departments.

we spent $7.5 billion a year. not $1 billion a year my $7.5 billion. those are being consolidated and transferred. rep. carter: with respect, mr. secretary, there have been cuts. we are not talking about consolidation. we are talking about cuts midstream, in the middle of research, in the middle of action. let me give you an example of what the cuts mean. the adolescent child network for hiv intervention studies teenagers and young adults, received a stop work order that shut down research at 14 sites where seven studies were being conducted. were you aware of that? were you aware of that? were you aware of that, sir, respectfully? yes or no, either you were or you were not? sec. kennedy: as far as i know, we have not. rep. carter: i am telling you by your own records you are so apparently you were not aware. we you aware your department we

landed the plans for termination? did you make these decisions? sec. kennedy: like i said, a lot of the information i have heard from this side of the aisle today has been untrue mischaracterization,. rep. carter: u.s. testifying -- easter secretary, you are testifying you are unaware who in your department terminated research at 14 sites were seven studies were being conducted. this is undetectable, sir. lastly, i would bring your attention to termination of hiv vaccine studies. these cuts make up $258 million. secretary kennedy, did you make the decision to terminate these studies? sec. kennedy: i did not personally make that decision, but i understand. rep. carter: you sanctioned them. how can you possibly justify such an action? sec. kennedy: we have been studying unpromising and hiv vaccine since 1984. every year, congress pours money into it. rep. carter: because they have not come up with one. you cut the forward motion by

getting wind of nih dollars that critically do research that save lives, and because it has not happened yet? sir, it is my time. my time. my time, sir. sec. kennedy: show me. rep. carter: i can show you a whole lot of lies if you got a minute. i am insulted if you think there are not lives that are lost. people are dying every day and for you to say show me one, people suffering the loss of their loved ones. sir, here is the reality. there is a whole bunch of studies i would like to submit for you and mr. -- submit for unanimous consent that would be debunk what you are saying and prove you are not being forthright with us with the american people. chair carter: without objection. rep. carter: as we look and we listen and we see where we are, the challenge and the fear of the state of now and the arrogance and the unwillingness to be forthright with the american people.

mr. secretary, your uncle and your father were towering champions for working americans, for justice, for dignity, and for those without a voice. they fought to lift people up. so i will ask this rhetorical question as i end. chair carter: the gentleman's time has expired. rep. carter: what happened? what happened? chair carter: the chair now recognizes the german from new york for five minutes of questioning. rep. langworthy: thank you very much, mr. chairman. mr. secretary, i would like to give you a moment to respond to the outlandish claims put in front of you just now. sec. kennedy: as i said, we have 27 hiv divisions. some of those were cut. some of the studies where we poured billions of dollars in and they were yielding nothing have been cut. we are looking for a real solution, and we are looking to do evidence-based gold standard science. we are going to do that and do that to take care of the most

desperate, most vulnerable americans, including people of hiv. there has been no withdrawal of any of that commitment. rep. langworthy: thank you very much, mr. secretary, and i appreciate your leadership and vision and your efforts to make america healthy again. one area that is of particular importance to me in my district is newborn screening. with changes to the advisory committee on heritable disorders in newborns and children there is uncertainty about the future of recommended newborn screening panels. i would love to hear what your thinking is about progress related to newborn screening and whether you see an opportunity for us to modernize this process? sec. kennedy: the program for newborns screening, and the federal advisory committee, which started in 2019 -- or was set to expire in 20 19.

it was reauthorized every year since then. over the last two years it has not produced a single recommendation. we can do that from hersa, and that is what we are going to do. we are going to develop new indications that should be screened for and we are going to continue to meet that obligation. rep. langworthy: thank you very much. now to supply chains. i want to bring your attention to national security concern related to nitrile gloves. our nation depends almost entirely on imports in this area of nitrile gloves, with china supplying nearly half. thanks to the previous administration our current stockpile that the country holds is about a 10 day supply and much of it is expired or near its expiration date. this means that if china decided to restrict our access to nitrile gloves tomorrow it could cause disruptions to our health care system. can we work together with this

committee to address this ongoing vulnerability for our medical supply chain? sec. kennedy: this is a vulnerability we are very much aware of. there is questions about whether we can produce that particular item in this country. i have been traveling over the past couple of weeks and -- to argentina and to ecuador, both of which have an interest in producing these products for the american market. it is a much more secure supply chain then relying on china. we are going to continue to offer incentives to develop these products here, but at the same time we are going to explore our relationships with friendly nations who can produce them in their countries at a low price, a low enough price for an big whit is item. and strengthen our supply chains. rep. langworthy: thank you very much. also on the area of supply chains, trust in the fda was

shattered during the previous administration and nowhere was that more clear than doing the infant formula crisis. the biden administration was asleep at the wheel while shells when empty and the american people got nothing but silence. your budget includes $15 million to modernize infant formula oversight. can you walk us through how that will be used and if the department is working on any efforts to strengthen the infant formula supply chain? sec. kennedy: it was one of our first priorities when we came into the department. we launched operation stork speed, making sure at the quantity of infant formula that is available is enough to supply the demand, but also to improve the quality to do everything we can to recalibrate the formulas. we are doing that right now at fbi -- fda and working with manufacturers all over the country in florida and elsewhere

to build a power supply chains so we never have a shortage again. rep. langworthy: thank you very much for your efforts there and all you are doing. i have 23 seconds if you want to respond to any of the other outrageous claims because no one has let you get a word in edge wise. sec. kennedy: i would love to be here for a conversation, and a lot of these issues are very complex. they don't lend themselves to soundbites. and i would love to have a conversation at some point with a -- with the democrats about their concerns about these issues. i think our values are the same, but -- chair carter: the gentlemen's time has expired. the channel recognizes the gentleman from ohio, representative landsman, five minutes of questioning. rep. landsman: thank you, mr. secretary, for being here. you were talking earlier about maternal health and i want to come back to maternal health and the disparities that exist in this country. particularly between black moms and everyone else.

there is a bipartisan effort that emerged from this committee before i got here. mr. carter and others supported the save motherhood and infant health program. this is an effort at hhs that focuses on best practices and collecting data. trying to figure out what is working in terms of maternal health. to improve healthy birth outcomes, etc. i think -- i genuinely believe this was, zero doubt, either accidentally or by some sort of oversight because obviously there is no waste, fraud, and abuse here. this is just the data collection associated with, obviously, a huge priority of yours, just maternal health. so, as we go through this budget process, is this one area where

you are willing to work with us to see if, in fact, we can restore funding for something that is saving the lives of mothers? eliminating, helping to illuminate these disparities and improving sec. kennedy: birth outcomes across the country? 100%, and i would love to operate on a bipartisan basis. if you contact my office i'm happy to meet with you about it. rep. landsman: this is a program that came out of this committee. i don't know if it was unanimous. mr. chairman i suspect it was, but it got zero doubt. number two, headstart, because we are on the trajectory, healthy birth outcome, you know, brain development is happening at its fastest rate, in those early years. and then we get a head start, which has been a game changer for millions -- tens of millions, something your family has led on. it got zero doubt, but the money

got restored, which is good. i'm just hoping that you can sort of assure everyone, because i'm getting calls on a regular basis from folks back home that they are not sure if this is going to stick, if there headstart funding is going to get cold and what that is going to mean for families and children. headstart funding is ok. that is not going to get touched? sec. kennedy: my uncle started headstart. it takes care of 750,000 of the poorest kids in america. it not only takes care of those children and teaches them basic fundamental skills, but also trains their parents on parenting skills. the metrics for kids who graduate from those programs -- every in this year are better. i'm very grateful to omb for meeting with me about that and then restoring the funding, and i will continue to protect that funding.

rep. landsman: thank you. last one. i have a niosh facility in cincinnati, one of the largest, as you know. it focuses entirely on worker safety. that is what they do. and we were able to work together to restore about 300 positions. mostly as it relates to the firefighters and minors. there are still -- i don't know, i guess 1000 1200 positions on the chopping block. are you willing to sort of reconsider or work with us on the remaining positions? recognizing that some of the 10,000 fte's was a mistake? including the ones working on the national firefighter registry for cancer? the world trade center health program, those kinds of things? the other folks in cincinnati are doing exceptional work to keep workers safe. are you willing to work with us

on protecting those jobs? sec. kennedy: absolutely. if congress funds that i will keep the program open. rep. landsman: congress did fund it. it was funded. sec. kennedy: this time around. rep. landsman: so, those jobs, hopefully, will get restored? sec. kennedy: i'm happy to meet with you about that. rep. landsman: i have a few things tattoo the record. i also would like to work on some of the rare disease stuff, but i will include that in what i submit. thank you. sec. kennedy: thank you, congressman. chair carter: the gentlemen yields. the chain now recognizes the gentleman from ohio, representative lee, for five minutes -- presented if -- representative rulli. reppo ruler -- rep. rulli: it

took biden over a year to visit east palestine. there are officials denying the potential for long-term health concerns. newly-released emails from the biden fee must show they knew about the possibilities of long-term health concerns, but chose to keep information from the public. the only way we can know the potential health issues conducted by the studies is within the first 72 hours of the disaster that we had a baseline. for health problems that we develop in the future. these are not just my constituents' concerns, these are my friends and neighbors. i live within 20 minutes of the disaster site. thank you to senator jd vance for standing alongside with us. never denying the possibility of health concerns in the future, and always fighting for more funding. this administration is showing what leadership looks like a

welcome change. president trump is committed to the gold standard science and has promised transparency within hhs. so what i want to say to you is, when this first happened, local, state, and federal elected officials all gathered around east palestine. and they basically said that there was nothing to see here, we can go back to normal, and you didn't have to worry about the future. i was one of the few guys that said i'm very worried about the future. i'm worried that when jd vance threw a rock into the creek we saw chemicals. i was there when norfolk southern convinced governor shapiro and governor dewine to do the vin number, and now we have problems and possibilities of not only cancer developing now with union workers on ground zero, cleaning up the side, but the future is so scary. i'm curious because at the time you stood with us you said we

cannot go back to normal, and now you are in the position of the sec. i would love to know where your overlook of the situation is. thank you. sec. kennedy: thank you, congressman. following the crash and burn i visited east palestine on multiple occasions. i met with families, i visited them in their homes. and even further away than you live. i talked to the amish farmers, the mennonite farmers who had generations of work into keeping their farms clean and all of a sudden they were finding that they were risking dioxin and other deadly chemicals that were coming down in the fallout. we saw people with illnesses, with respiratory problems, with gastrointestinal problems, with high problems. and we promised -- i promised them i would do everything i could to help them. but this week because of jd

vance's promise and my promise we issued a $10 million to nih to go in and do honest science there from a government agency and we are going to fully disclose whatever we find and let the chips fall where they may. rep. rulli: i appreciate that so much, secretary. let me give you the last two minutes of my time to go over any subject that was talked about during this committee or any thought process you would like to convey to the committee for the last minute and 45 seconds. thank you. sec. kennedy: again, what i would say is that these are issues that are of concern to every american. a couple of the congresswomen have -- congressman and woman have come on the democratic side, have raised issues about the asip committee.

he was a committee rife with conflicts at the pharmaceutical companies. they committed acts of malpractice, including allowing kids -- when i was a kid got three vaccines. today they get 69 to 92 jabs of vaccines before between conception and when they are 18 years old. none of them have been safety tested with the exception of the covid vaccine. it is the only one that had a pre-licensing safety trial. how can you mandate, which effectively is what they do -- these products to healthy children without knowing the risk profile? so, they know, they do studies and they show that it averts the disease. they don't do safety studies. we are going to do the new panel which has great science. none of them are anti-vaccine. the leading statistician alive in the world today is the chair of the committee.

the inventor of the mrna vaccine, robert malone, is co-chairing the committee. we have scientists, immunologists, toxicologists, every kind of medical discipline you would want on that committee and we are going to have gold standard science now. chair carter: the gentlemen's time has expired. the chair now recognizes the last member of the subcommittee, the gentleman from new jersey, representative kean, for five minutes of questioning. rep. kean: i want to thank secretary kennedy for being here today. i'm very interested in learning about the plans for restructuring and streamlining at hhs. i'm especially interested to hear if these changes will improve new jersey's impressive biopharmaceutical industry. right now there are many innovators in my district who are developing treatments for diseases that currently have no treatments or they are improving

the quality of life for patients around the country. developing improvements to existing therapies. mergers -- new jersey's innovators should be proud of the work and congress and hhs should do everything we can to enable this innovation to benefit patients. secretary kennedy, in your testimony you discussed the changes happening across hhs, and i'm hopeful your efforts can improve processes across your department's various agencies. i've heard from stakeholders in new jersey about these changes and they could impact the prescription drug approval process. could you speak to how you are looking to ensure these changes have no negative impact on drug application review and approval timelines? new guidance, or general fda response times? sec. kennedy: are you talking about the personal changes? rep. kean: yes. sec. kennedy: they are not going to have any impact. i met repeatedly with the biotech industry, including people from new jersey, to assure them of that.

we want to light a fire under biotech in this country and that is what we are going to do. it is the future of medicine, stuff that is happening at the developments and innovations happening in that space. it should be exciting to all of humanity. we are going to make sure the united states remains the center of the biotech revolution. china is putting huge amounts of money into this space, and it is important that we do the same thing. we are going to try to take down, dismantle the barriers to biotech development and approval and make sure that we do everything we can to support that industry. rep. kean: thank you. second question. i appreciate your comments earlier on innovation and the role gene therapies play in that space. however, we must not forget the innovation that continues in the drug space. especially since these drugs can

often be more convenient for patients. the changes in the fda, including the centers for drug evaluation and research, how are you ensuring that fda can continue to enable innovation and flexibility in its reviews and approval of small drugs? sec. kennedy: main, that is a delicate path that i think we'll have to talk about. we have to work with congress to reform the pill penalty, and there is a provision for that in the big, beautiful bill, and it is something that congress is going to ultimately decide. we want to make sure that, you know, this small molecule drugs you can take it home, the pills, that the elderly consume in this country, and we want to make sure those are available and that those are at a convenient cost. and to some extent the pill

penalty has dampened innovation in that space and a lot of the money has -- the investment money has moved to the large molecule space. but it is a delicate balance, and we try to resolve that in the big, beautiful bill. it is something both sides of the al have an interest in and we ought to be trying to strike right balance. rep. kean: i look forward to working with you in that regard. legislatively or administratively. earlier this year the administration issued an executive order that called for you and the fda commissioner to look at administrative and legislative recommendations to improve -- to improve the process by which prescription drugs can be reclassified as over-the-counter medications. this is commonly referred to as switch. and important to me, since new jersey has a number of over-the-counter drug manufacturers. how can we work together to make sure fda approaches its work on

otc medicines, including switches, in a commonsense and least-burdensome manner to make sure we realize the potential of otc benefits for american consumers? sec. kennedy: this is an opportunity we are committed to at fda, and i would urge you to talk not just to me, but marty makary about that. i think you will be very, very gratified by his openness to those kind of innovations. chair carter: the gentlemen's time has expired. that concludes questions from the members of this subcommittee. i ask unanimous consent to insert in the record the documents included on the staff hearing documents list. without objection, so order. i would like to thank our witness again for being here today. secretary kennedy, thank you very much for your presence here. members of this subcommittee and those present and waived on may

have additional written questions for you. i will remind members of this subcommittee and those present and waived on that they have 10 business days to submit questions for the record, and i asked the witness to respond promptly. members of this subcommittee and those present and waived on should submit their questions by the close of business on wednesday, july 9. without objection, the subcommittee is adjourned. [gavel]