Kennedy faces Congress in string of hearings on HHS budget

Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kennedy is in the middle of a week of seven congressional hearings about the administration’s 2027 budget proposal.

The big picture: Members of Congress are questioning Kennedy on his first year heading the department, beyond the budget proposal. Kennedy is highlighting MAHA wins, while critics are calling out his efforts to downsize HHS, cut Medicaid, etc.

The details: In the hearings he has completed so far…

• Kennedy highlighted the Great American Recovery Initiative and noted that addressing mental health and addiction are priorities for HHS. Several members of Congress raised concerns about the cuts to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services (SAMHSA) and Medicaid, which is the largest payer of behavioral health services.
• Kennedy said $2 billion in cuts to mental health and substance use disorder grants his department issued and quickly reversed earlier this year had been a “mistake.” While last year he said a 25% cut to the HHS budget was needed to address the “bloated” bureaucracy, this year he said officials had reluctantly proposed a 12% cut to cope with the federal debt. Kennedy did note that certain departments and functions at HHS are duplicative, including dozens of behavioral health and opioid programs, but said efforts to consolidate functions should not be seen as cost-cutting.
• In response to questions about the administration’s decision not to defend the 2024 parity regulations facing a lawsuit from industry, Kennedy said parity and addiction were a focus for HHS and that the department is developing a new rule.
• Kennedy said he is overhauling the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, the group of experts that decides what services are preventive and must be covered fully by insurers under the Affordable Care Act.
• Kennedy said that HHS cut 20,000 employees last year, bringing the total to 62,000, but that it is now back up to 72,000 workers. He said HHS has plans to add an additional 12,000 workers, which would be more than what the administration started with. Last year, Kennedy argued the cuts were necessary and that the department could do more with less. But now Kennedy says the workforce has been replaced with “a better group of people who are actually going to address chronic health.”
• Some members of Congress called out the administration claiming to root out waste, fraud, and abuse while also pardoning several people convicted of defrauding federal health programs and reinstating hundreds of ACA brokers suspended because of suspected fraud.
• Kennedy pushed for the confirmation of Casey Means as surgeon general, as her nomination has stalled.

What’s coming: Kennedy is set to go before a few more committees this week. While Kennedy is defending the administration’s budget request, Congress is responsible for passing appropriations and is likely to reject many of the HHS cuts requested, as it did last year.

Read more: ‘He’s got a lot of stamina’: What to watch as the RFK Jr. hearing palooza kicks off; 7 Key issues we’re watching as RFK Jr. faces a Congressional gauntlet