RFK Jr. got rid of an ‘alphabet soup’ of health agencies. Now, Congress gets a say
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. visits Capitol Hill today to tell lawmakers why he wants less money for his agency, the Department of Health and Human Services. NPR's Selena Simmons-Duffin spoke with three former health secretaries to hear how they think Kennedy is handling the job.
SELENA SIMMONS-DUFFIN, BYLINE: After just six weeks as secretary of health and human services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. declared that the org chart was, quote, "incomprehensible" and the whole agency needed an overhaul. In late March, he posted a video on social media.
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ROBERT F KENNEDY JR: HHS has more than a hundred communications offices and more than 40 IT departments, and dozens of procurement offices and nine HR departments.
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: Five days later, 10,000 staffers were fired - not just in HR and IT, but physicians, statisticians, whole centers at CDC and food safety labs were shuttered. The process was chaotic, and Kennedy added to the confusion by suggesting that as many as 20% of those fired could be brought back. He told CBS in April that going through each job line by line wouldn't have worked.
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KENNEDY: It takes too long, and you lose political momentum.
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: Kennedy is the 26th secretary of health and human services. Tommy Thompson was the 19th. He was health secretary under President George W. Bush.
TOMMY THOMPSON: I'm not one of those that's going to criticize the administration or Bobby Kennedy for cutting back because I think it's necessary in government at all levels.
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: He does say he wished Kennedy's team would learn a bit more about the department before they made the cuts, and...
THOMPSON: I hope that they don't cut programs that are absolutely necessary for public health.
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: Two other former health secretaries, Kathleen Sebelius, who served under President Obama, and Donna Shalala, who served under President Clinton, both tell NPR they are alarmed by Kennedy's approach to the agency. Here's Sebelius.
KATHLEEN SEBELIUS: I think it's horrifying to not really understand or know what it is that you're doing and what impact it could have on the lives and well-being of people across this country, and then try to fix it after the fact. That makes no sense to me.
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: Shalala emphasizes there will be economic consequences to these moves.
DONNA SHALALA: If you look at the power of just NIH to drive the economy, it's not just a bunch of laboratories with a bunch of scientists. It's the next generation of scientists and engineers. I don't know where Elon Musk is going to get his engineers in the future if you have drastic cuts in science and in technology.
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: She says when she was secretary, HHS saved the government money by beefing up oversight to identify fraud and abuse.
SHALALA: There's no evidence that when they're breaking down the government with a hammer and bludgeoning these agencies, they know how to put them back together with a new strategy. There's no evidence of that.
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: Kennedy does have defenders. Roger Severino served in HHS in the first Trump administration and is now with the conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation.
ROGER SEVERINO: HHS lost its way. It lost its vision from making sure the outcomes were there of improving longevity and quality of life, and instead, it turned into a money-dispensing machine. It was an ATM. Why? Because special interests have captured HHS, and RFK Jr. is committed to ending it.
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: So is Kennedy rooting out special interests and streamlining the mission of HHS, or is he battering the agency and hampering scientific progress? Lawmakers in two hearings today will have a chance to pose some of these big questions to Kennedy. His answers could determine which of these major changes Congress makes permanent in the new budget.
Selena Simmons-Duffin, NPR News, Washington.
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