Lawmakers press Kennedy on mass cuts ahead of future budget
House lawmakers repeatedly pressed US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy on canceled medical research and mass layoffs during a Wednesday hearing on Trump administration proposals that could lead to even broader cuts.
Democrats on the House Appropriations Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies subcommittee repeatedly asked the secretary to explain cuts this year to health care programs, medical research and staffing before discussing a 2026 budget that would shrink the health agencies further.
Kennedy insisted he would spend the funds that Congress appropriated in the 2026 budget according to law. But Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee, including ranking member Steny Hoyer and health subcommittee ranking member Rosa DeLauro were focused on the agency's spending this year, for budgets already authorized.
'We have to really keep a clear line here between a questionable proposal for '26 and what is going on right now against the legislation that we have passed, and that has been signed into law,' DeLauro said.
The administration's cancellation of National Institutes of Health grants amounted to $2.7 billion in eliminated research, much higher than previous estimates, according to a report issued by Democrats on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee this Tuesday.
In a post on X on Tuesday, HHS called the report 'unequivocally false' and said it was politically motivated.
Kennedy is testifying before the Senate HELP committee on Wednesday afternoon.
The secretary defended the funding and job cuts, saying that the slashes so far reduced redundancy and that the proposed 2026 budget would streamline programs further.
But he also seemed to distance himself from the eliminations led by the US Department of Government Efficiency and said he had protected certain programs, including HeadStart.
'There were many instances where I said 'That would hurt us,' ' he told the House committee.
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