Pallone: Republicans Undermine Health Care Supply Chains with Their Silence on Trump Gutting Public Health Infrastructure

Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) delivered the following opening remarks at a Health Subcommittee hearing on “Made in America: Strengthening Domestic Manufacturing and Our Health Care Supply Chain:”

Today, Committee Republicans want to discuss health care supply chains while the Trump Administration is unleashing chaos and harm on our public health infrastructure.

The latest dangerous action by this Administration came on Monday when Secretary Kennedy fired all 17 medical experts of the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP) – the committee that advises our nation on immunization practices.  And this action puts the health and well-being of the American people – especially our nation’s children – at extreme risk. It undermines vaccine safety and politicizes research and also politicizes science. And it’s all being done so RFK Jr. can stack the panel with a bunch of anti-vaccine people.

Also on Monday, 342 of the top scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) signed a letter to the NIH Director detailing unprecedented waste, abuse, and illegality at NIH under the Trump Administration. The letter also addresses the harmful consequences of these actions on our nation’s ability to improve and save lives through scientific breakthroughs. This was really an unprecedented action by these employees who must feel they have no other options at this point than to go public.

Now, each of these actions warrants a hearing here in this Committee, and yet, Republicans on this Committee remain silent – blindly following the Trump Administration as it decimates our public health infrastructure. This Committee has yet to hear from the Secretary of HHS. We have yet to hear from the NIH Director. I know Republicans plan a budget hearing with Secretary Kennedy later this month, but he has caused so much destruction at HHS already, that one hearing, focused on the budget, is not going to be sufficient. He must answer separately for the dangerous actions he’s taken to undermine vaccines.

Rather than demanding answers of this Administration, Congressional Republicans are plowing ahead with their Big Ugly Bill that rips health care away from 16 million people so they can give giant tax breaks to billionaires.

Committee Republicans want to talk about strengthening domestic manufacturing and the health care supply chain.

However, it's difficult to have a discussion about the supply chain without acknowledging the disruption, confusion, and uncertainty that the Trump tariff policies have caused, as well as the deep budget cuts the Administration has proposed to the FDA. I don’t understand how Congressional Republicans intend to square their desire to onshore manufacturing and bolster the domestic supply chain while eliminating nearly 2,000 jobs at FDA and proposing an 11 percent budget cut. FDA employees are the ones who inspect foreign and domestic manufacturing facilities, approve branded and generic drugs, and ensure that medical products are safe and accessible for the people who rely on them. FDA staff have said the layoffs have resulted in drug safety work being stalled and inspections falling behind.

And that’s the hearing we should be having. We should be conducting robust oversight on the implications of these actions: what it means in the short term for preparedness and response, and what it means in the long term for American innovation and our ability to lead on a global scale. Both are threatened under the Trump Administration’s policies.

And if Republicans are really interested in strengthening domestic manufacturing and the health care supply chain, they would work with Democrats to ensure FDA has the resources and authorities it needs to ensure the medical products Americans rely on are safe, effective, and available. FDA needs additional tools, resources, and authorities, not less, to address drug shortages and strengthen the supply chain.

Last Congress, Democrats put forward several bills that would bring greater transparency and resiliency to the supply chain, but Republicans refused to act on them. They also walked away from a bipartisan reauthorization of the Pandemic All-Hazards Preparedness Act (PAHPA) after Elon Musk blasted the overall package it was included in.

There is a lot of work to be done here, Mr. Chairman, to protect our supply chain, mitigate drug shortages, and ensure we’re better prepared for the next pandemic. However, unless and until the Trump Administration chooses to end its dangerous crusade against public health, against biomedical research, and against vaccines, it’s not possible to do the things supposedly this hearing is about—the supply chain. It’s time that the Administration and Republicans understand that these policies and solutions are all intertwined. You can’t separate them. You can’t talk about the supply chain and mitigating drug shortages—and at the same time fire people at FDA, limit the resources that go to FDA, and all the other chaos that this Administration is creating.

And with that I yield back the balance of my time.

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