By Sarah Owermohle, Tami Luhby, CNN
(CNN) — US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had another long day on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, with lawmakers questioning him on his vaccine views, agency shakeups and a proposed budget that would slash HHS spending on medical research and public health.
The secretary made his fourth and fifth appearances before congressional committees in less than a week, testifying before a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee before heading to a Senate Appropriations subcommittee.
As he had in three-hour sessions last week, Kennedy defended the administration’s budget proposal and his reforms. But he also faced some fresh questions, namely about President Donald Trump’s new pick to lead the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — and whether the White House has sought to rope in his vaccine rhetoric.
Kennedy will testify before two more Senate committees on Wednesday; the afternoon session, with the Senate Health Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, is expected to be the highest-profile hearing of the marathon stretch.
Here are the highlights from Kennedy’s third day of budget discussions on Capitol Hill.
Grilled on CDC pick
Trump named a nominee to lead the beleaguered CDC on Thursday, nearly eight months after the administration ousted Dr. Susan Monarez from the role over her refusal to rubber-stamp Kennedy’s vaccine decisions.
The nominee, Dr. Erica Schwartz, is a veteran of public health service and served as deputy surgeon general in the president’s first administration. Her nomination was met with cautious support from public health advocates, who questioned whether she would be allowed to lead the agency without interference.
Rep. Raul Ruiz had similar questions at Tuesday’s hearing. The California Democrat pressed Kennedy on what drove Monarez’s firing and whether Schwartz would meet the same pressure.
“Mr. Secretary, if Dr. Schwartz is confirmed, will you commit on the record today to implement whatever vaccine guidance she issues without interference?” Ruiz asked.
Kennedy replied: “I’m not going to make that kind of commitment.”
Kennedy also denied that Monarez was fired because of clashes over vaccine policy, saying — as he has before — that the scientist told him she was untrustworthy.
Monarez denied that version of events in a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing in September. The issue — and Schwartz’s autonomy if confirmed — is certain to come up in that committee’s hearing Wednesday, since that panel holds the votes to confirm health care nominees like the CDC director.
Vaccines and measles outbreak remain a focus
Kennedy could not escape questions Tuesday about his stance on vaccine safety and how that may have fueled a sharp rise in measles cases in the US. As in earlier hearings, the secretary denied that his vaccine views played a role in declining vaccination rates and disputed that he has been anti-vaccine.
“The problem is not me. There are people in this country who do not vaccinate,” Kennedy said during the House hearing.
US cases of measles surged to a record high in 2025; the government has recorded more than 1,700 cases so far this year.
Amid questions about vaccine policy changes — such as a proposal to delay hepatitis B vaccination from infancy to age 12 — Kennedy insisted that he is not against vaccines but wants more safety studies.
Vaccines are tested in some of the largest clinical trials of pharmaceutical products, often involving millions of trial participants. They are also continuously monitored for safety after approval.
Rates of hepatitis B fell dramatically since the first vaccine launched more than four decades ago, but federal data suggests that there were more than 2,000 new cases in the US last year.
Another HHS expert shakeup
Kennedy also indicated that he is soliciting new members for a key panel of agency advisers: the US Preventive Services Task Force, which recommends screenings for cancer, diabetes and heart diseases, behavioral counseling and other preventive care. Under the Affordable Care Act, insurers must cover preventive services that get an A or B grade from the group at no cost to patients.
“One of the things that we’re working on right now is to reform the United States Preventive Service Task Force,” he told the House committee, adding that a notice will be put in the Federal Register this week. “That task force has been lackadaisical. It’s not been doing its job. If it had been doing its job, we would have early screening for Alzheimer’s.”
The task force has not met for more than a year and has been unable to advance recommendations that are under review or in development, concerning many preventive care experts. Five of its 16 members’ terms expired on January 1.
The USPSTF shakeup comes after Kennedy overhauled the agency’s highest-profile vaccine advisory group, the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. Kennedy, a longtime vaccine skeptic, replaced all of the committee’s members last year. The new panel voted to abandon universal hepatitis B vaccination for newborns; placed restrictions on a combination shot that protects against chickenpox as well as measles, mumps and rubella; and took the unprecedented step of not universally recommending Covid-19 vaccinations, instead making it a matter of personal choice.
‘There have been no cuts to Medicaid’
After being hammered by several Democratic lawmakers about the Trump administration’s cuts to Medicaid, Kennedy insisted that no cuts are taking place.
Kennedy repeatedly said across several hearings that “there have been no cuts to Medicaid,” insisting that any loss of coverage was for ineligible people such as illegal immigrants.
He pointed on Tuesday to a Congressional Budget Office report that he argued shows federal spending on the critical safety net program would increase in coming years.
Federal spending on Medicaid is forecast to grow from $708 billion this year to $941 billion in 2035, according to the CBO’s latest projection. But it would have increased even more had congressional Republicans not approved the One Big Beautiful Bill Act last summer – to just over $1 trillion in 2035, the CBO estimated prior to the law’s enactment.
The “big, beautiful bill” – which implements the first-ever work requirement in Medicaid and limits states’ ability to finance the program, among other changes – is expected to slash spending on Medicaid by a total of $1.2 trillion between 2026 and 2035, the CBO projected. The historic cut means the safety net program won’t be able to keep up with costs, which could force states to further restrict eligibility or benefits, experts have said.
The Republican package is expected to reduce Medicaid enrollment by 13.1 million people in 2035, the CBO estimates.
Questions about maternal and women’s health persist
Maternal health care and the country’s high rate of maternal deaths — particularly among Black women — have been a contentious point between Kennedy and Democrats since the first hearings last week. Lawmakers including Pennsylvania Rep. Summer Lee have pressed Kennedy on how cuts to diversity, equity and inclusion programs have affected efforts to address those disparities.
On Tuesday, Maine Republican Susan Collins joined those lawmakers.
“It appears that the administration is looking at these health disparities and is not looking at them — is pulling back from these grants instead of figuring out why these health disparities exist and how to address them,” Collins said.
Kennedy has maintained that this administration has made the most improvements to maternal health programs in history.
“You’re right, we have the worst maternal health outcomes of any of the Western countries, and Black women are 2.6 times more likely” to die in pregnancy and childbirth than White women, Kennedy said Tuesday. He pointed to a perinatal pilot program that he said has reduced the rate of maternal mortality by 42%. When asked about that reduction, HHS directed CNN to a report that found a 41.5% decline in deaths during hospital stays for childbirth among 250 hospitals over several years, through a program started in 2020.
Lee had asked Friday what share of that drop had been among Black women.
“It helps everybody,” Kennedy said.
The war in Iran
Over the course of this month’s HHS budget hearings, three Democrats have pulled the health secretary into questions about the ongoing war in Iran, questioning both the cost of the war and President Donald Trump’s mental acuity.
“In Trump’s America, we can’t afford health care, but apparently we can spend a billion dollars a day in a war with Iran,” said Frank Pallone of New Jersey, ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, on Tuesday. “Do you believe that further cuts to health care programs, including Medicare, Medicaid and the ACA, are necessary in order to pay for Trump’s ongoing war with Iran?”
Kennedy again said there have been no Medicaid cuts.
A particularly heated exchange came Friday, when Rep. Mark Takano, a Democrat from California, read out Trump’s social media posts about Iran and asked Kennedy if he was mentally fit for office.
“The president is a bargainer, and he knows how to make good deals,” Kennedy said. He later told the committee that Trump is “very, very sane.”
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