Overhaul mean gut......

What HHS told House staff about RFK Jr.’s overhaul of the agency

The secretary could soon agree to testify before a key committee.

Ben Leonard

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is expected to testify before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on his agency’s budget in the coming weeks, but HHS officials told committee staffers that he might not be able to speak on his department’s sweeping overhaul, a Democratic aide for the panel said Friday.

According to the aide, granted anonymity to share details of a private meeting, the agency officials argued in a closed-door briefing that because of the sweeping reduction in force — which aims to cut 10,000 of the department’s workers — Kennedy won’t be able to discuss the matter for 60 days. Those officials cited U.S. Office of Personnel Management statutes.

“If he comes on day 58 and cites to that as a reason that he can’t [speak to it], that is not consistent with the new era of transparency that has been promised,” the Democratic aide said.

The aide also said that during the bipartisan staff briefing, HHS officials didn’t offer an accounting of how many people were laid off from the department — which had surprised members of both parties and led to the staff briefing being scheduled — and insisted the layoffs were conducted “with a scalpel” and “nuance.”

A spokesperson for Energy and Commerce Republicans said they would defer to HHS for comment. A spokesperson for HHS in a statement Saturday morning disputed much of the Democrats’ account.

“The Democrats on the Hill have it wrong,” said the department spokesperson. “HHS has outlined the number of impacted employees on our website. HHS continues to provide the public with radical transparency and is taking action to streamline operations, eliminate redundancies, and remove silos to better serve Americans and increase efficiency — something [Democrats] failed to do the last 4 years.”

All this comes as Democrats are pushing Kennedy to testify before the committee on the massive cuts hitting HHS agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health. They warn that the moves could be devastating for key public health functions.

Republicans have argued that the staff briefing is “always the first step” before a member briefing. They’ve largely contended that the firings could be helpful in making the department more efficient. Democrats are pushing to hear from Kennedy soon, under oath.