Pallone Sends Follow-Up Questions to RFK, Jr. After His Testimony at Budget Hearing Included Inaccuracies & Misrepresentations

Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) today wrote to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. demanding answers following his repeated attempts to evade questions from Committee members during his June 24 testimony on the fiscal year 2026 HHS budget. In the letter, Pallone sounded the alarm on a variety of issues—including the status of staffing cuts, life-saving research funding, anti-vaccine policies, and conflicts of interest.

“Your testimony displayed a profound ignorance of the ways your mismanagement and proposed HHS reorganization are already threatening the health of the American people. Often, you were unable to answer questions at the core of your responsibilities as Secretary, and, when you did, your responses contained several inaccuracies or misrepresentations,” Ranking Member Pallone wrote to Secretary Kennedy.

“As such, I ask for your clarification on several topics regarding questions that you refused to answer, answered incompletely, or did not truthfully answer during the hearing. A prompt and thorough response to these questions is critical to Congress’s consideration of HHS’s budget request,” Pallone continued.

Pallone detailed multiple instances in the letter when Secretary Kennedy’s responses to questioning from Committee members were inadequate, and demanded follow ups and clarifying information by July 24 on the following:

• Any court orders that purportedly limited HHS’s ability to discuss the details of its proposed Reduction-in-Force (RIF) or reorganization at the hearing and any plans to move forward with the RIFs;
• Evidence of alleged and unsubstantiated conflicts of interest for all 17 former members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) that he recently fired;
• Selection and vetting processes of new ACIP members;
• Written assurance that HHS will abide by the Whistleblower Protection Act and not take any retaliatory action against signers of the Bethesda Declaration;
• Answers about the numerous errors, fake citations, and potential use of artificial intelligence in his MAHA Report;
• An update on the status of Alzheimer’s disease research funding frozen in March;
• HHS projections, if it has made any, about the impacts of Trump’s Big, Ugly Bill on Americans’ health care coverage;
• Answers on whether HHS sidestepped Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) consultation by withdrawing the COVID-19 vaccine recommendation for pregnant women;
• Impacts of proposed Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) budget cuts on access to substance use care;
• Plans to update his June 13 letter to providers to reflect his oral testimony that abortion is a form of stabilizing care covered by Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA); and
• A list of all National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants that have been terminated by NIH since January 20, 2025 that included funding for clinical trials.

Pallone also requested substantive responses to the ten outstanding letters that he has sent to Secretary Kennedy this year by August 1.

Read the full letter HERE.

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