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Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was on the defense Tuesday during an appearance before a House subcommittee. While Kennedy was there to answer questions about his department’s fiscal 2026 budget request, Democratic lawmakers seized on the opportunity to grill him over three-plus hours.
“How does that happen under your leadership?” Ruiz asked Kennedy.
Democratic Rep. Raul Ruiz of California used his time to question Kennedy about “The MAHA Report: Make Our Children Healthy Again.” The congressman asked whether Kennedy, as chair of the Make America Healthy Again Commission, had read and fact-checked the report’s sources before publication.
After Kennedy conceded that he had not fact-checked the report, Ruiz pointed out that the document had several citation errors, with references to papers that do not exist.
“How does that happen under your leadership, sir?” Ruiz asked. Kennedy responded by telling the congressman that “all of the foundational assertions in that report are accurate.”
“They did not exist,” Ruiz interjected. “How can they be accurate if they did not exist, sir?”
Ruiz added: “I was a premed [student] at UCLA. … If somebody turned this in, as an undergrad, to their professor at UCLA, they would have received an ‘F,’ sir, an ‘F’ — for the misinterpretation, the falsehoods, the denials, and also citing references that don’t even exist. That’s lying and dishonest, sir.”
When it came time for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to question Kennedy, the New York Democrat asked whether he knew that the Justice Department is reportedly investigating UnitedHealth Group over allegations of Medicare fraud.
“I am not aware of that investigation,” Kennedy replied.
Ocasio-Cortez appeared to be in disbelief: “You are not aware that the Trump Department of Justice is investigating the largest insurance company in America for fraud in Medicare Advantage?”
Kennedy repeated that he was not aware but said it did not surprise him.
At one point, the hearing was halted after Kennedy hurled accusations at Rep. Frank Pallone after the New Jersey Democrat questioned the health secretary about his recent changes to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP.
“You have made a number of major decisions about vaccines. And … there’s been no public comment process or public accountability on that either. What are you afraid of?” Pallone asked.
He added: “The bottom line is here: We have no transparency. ... You feel no responsibility to Congress whatsoever, and you just continue this ideology that’s anti-science, anti-vaccine.”
While answering a subsequent question from Rep. Neal Dunn, R-Fla., Kennedy turned back to Pallone and accused him of changing his views on vaccines after allegedly receiving money from pharmaceutical companies.
“Fifteen years ago, you and I met. You were, at that time, a champion for people who had suffered injuries from vaccines. ... Since then, you’ve accepted $2 million from pharmaceutical companies in contributions, more than any other member of this committee,” Kennedy alleged. “And your enthusiasm for supporting the old ACIP committee, which was completely rife and pervasive with pharmaceutical conflicts, seems to be an outcome of those contributions.”
Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., quickly raised a point of order with the subcommittee’s chair, Republican Rep. Buddy Carter of Georgia, accusing Kennedy of “impugning the reputation of a member of Congress.”
Shortly thereafter, Carter said DeGette had raised a valid point of order, and he asked the health secretary to “please take back those words.”
“They’re retracted,” Kennedy said.