United States of America

RFK Jr. Faces Senate on $15.8B HHS Budget Cuts

Is RFK Jr. dismantling public health at HHS or finally fixing America's chronic disease crisis?

Published 2 days ago

RFK Jr. Faces Senate on $15.8B HHS Budget Cuts

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Above: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sits before a Senate committee at the U.S. Capitol on April 22, 2026. Image credit: Saul Loeb/Getty Images

The Spin

Democratic narrative

Kennedy's tenure at HHS is a mess of broken promises and bad math. Kennedy told senators that Trump has "his own way of calculating percentages" to justify bogus drug price claims, while the proposed $15.8 billion in HHS cuts threaten the very research needed to fight Alzheimer's, cancer and dementia. Gutting NIH funding while peddling overpriced brand-name drugs on TrumpRx isn't making America healthy — it's making Big Pharma richer.

Common Dreams MS Now

Republican narrative

Kennedy has delivered real results at HHS — pushing artificial dyes out of food, overhauling the food pyramid, tightening vaccine guidelines to match actual science and cleaning up SNAP and school lunch programs. When Democrats tried to rattle him in seven straight congressional hearings, he stayed calm and consistent, even schooling lawmakers who came unprepared. America finally has an HHS secretary who's serious about fixing the root causes of chronic disease.

American Thinker Townhall