June 25, 2025 12:41 PM UTC

Diana DeGette Smacks Evasive RFK Jr. in House Committee Hearing

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• by: Colorado Pols

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr is diligently working on making Americans more deader (more MAMD than MAHA), and he continues to pursue his anti-logic policies while completely ignoring requests for more information from Congress.

On Tuesday during a hearing of the Subcommittee on Health of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, ranking member Congresswoman Diana DeGette (D-Denver) went after RFK Jr for his opaque leadership at HHS. DeGette started with RFK Jr’s refusal to acknowledge Congress aside from showing up to shrug off questions at the occasional hearing on Capitol Hill. The longtime Denver Democrat has kept all of the receipts:

DEGETTE: Mr. Secretary, Members of the subcommittee sent you letters seeking information on February 13; February 28; March 13; March 20, March 25; April 1; April 3; April 9; April 10; April 11; April 28; April 29; May 28; June 10; June 11; June 17; June 22; and June 23….to which we have received no response [from] your agency whatsoever.

DeGette continued by asking RFK Jr about reinstating a large swath of federal grants for scientific research that a federal district court judge recently demanded to be reinstated. As The Associated Press reported last week:

A federal judge ruled it was illegal for the Trump administration to cancel several hundred research grants, adding that the cuts raise serious questions about racial discrimination.

U.S. District Judge William Young in Massachusetts said the administration’s process was “arbitrary and capricious” and that it did not follow long-held government rules and standards when it abruptly canceled grants deemed to focus on gender identity or diversity, equity and inclusion…

…Young, an appointee of Republican President Ronald Reagan, went on to address what he called “a darker aspect” to the cases, calling it “palpably clear” that what was behind the government actions was “racial discrimination and discrimination against America’s LGBTQ community.”

After 40 years on the bench, “I’ve never seen government racial discrimination like this,” Young added. He ended Monday’s hearing saying, “Have we no shame.” [Pols emphasis] 

The response from RFK Jr was that he would “comply with the law,” though it’s unclear based on other questions whether RFK Jr even knows what DeGette is asking about. For example, DeGette went on to ask RFK Jr about a reported DOGE initiative called “Defend the Spend” that was reported in April by news outlets including The Washington Post:

The U.S. DOGE Service is putting new curbs on billions of dollars in federal health-care grants, requiring government officials to manually review and approve previously routine payments — and paralyzing grant awards to tens of thousands of organizations, according to 12 people familiar with the new arrangements.

The effort, which DOGE has dubbed “Defend the Spend,” has left thousands of payments backed up, including funding for doctors’ and nurses’ salaries at federal health centers for the poor. Some grantees are waiting on payments they expected last week.

DeGette’s questions about “Defend the Spend” were perplexing for RFK Jr:

RFK JR: About…about what?

DEGETTE: The Defend the Spend initiative that your agency has [impemented]? You don’t know about it?

DeGette continued with questions about RFK Jr’s policies of sidelining health experts who disagree with his own batshit theories on vaccinations, and about whether HHS would punish scientists who have spoken out about their concerns related to cutting off funding for critical research projects.

Surprise! The Secretary of Health and Human Services knows nothing about this, either!

DEGETTE: Will you commit today that neither you nor anyone else at HHS will take retaliatory action against the brave scientists that work at NIH [the National Institutes of Health]?

This should be an easy answer, because [retaliation] is illegal.

RFK JR: I can commit that we are absolutely de-politicizing science at NIH for the first time…

DEGETTE: Will you commit that you will not take any retaliatory..

RFK JR: My administration…

DEGETTE: Excuse me. Excuse me, sir. I asked you a simple question. Will you commit to not taking retaliatory action against the NIH scientists that signed the letter about the research dollars?

RFK JR: I don’t know anything about that letter.

DEGETTE: You don’t know about the letter? Okay.

RFK JR: No, I don’t know anything about that letter. This is the first I’ve heard of it.

There are two possible conclusions here: 1) Robert F. Kennedy Jr doesn’t know anything about anything; or 2) Robert F. Kennedy Jr is going to pretend he doesn’t know anything to avoid answering questions.

Either conclusion is entirely possible. Either conclusion is both unacceptable and, frankly, terrifying.

Good on Rep. DeGette for trying to get some answers on topics that affect the health and wellbeing of every American.