Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Wednesday that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will face “hard questions” over a recent shakeup of top health officials when he appears before senators Thursday.
At Kennedy’s appearance before the Senate Finance Committee, which was first reported by POLITICO, Thune said that the secretary needs to “restore public trust” after Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Susan Monarez was fired and other top CDC officials quickly resigned.
“I would say that, you know, because somebody’s supportive or in favor of vaccines is not disqualifying for that job, so I assume he’ll have some questions to answer tomorrow,” Thune said.
The turnover at the CDC has sparked a wave of concern from some Senate Republicans on public health grounds. But it’s also exposed frustration that the administration is ousting officials just weeks or months into the job after the Senate spent valuable floor time confirming them.
“Honestly he’s got to take responsibility,” Thune added. “We confirm these people, we go through a lot of work to get them confirmed, and they’re in office a month?”
HHS isn’t the only Trump administration department that has seen quick exits. Two Senate-confirmed Treasury officials — IRS Administrator Billy Long and Deputy Secretary Michael Faulkender — departed after just months.\\
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who will question Kennedy as a Finance Committee member, also expressed frustration with Monarez’s departure.
“Man, you worked with this CDC director for some number of months, then you decided to put her forth for confirmation, and then you fired her four weeks later,” he said. “Why would we put a priority on replacing her if you determine within four weeks you made a bad decision after months of actually seeing her at work? That’s a question I have for him tomorrow.”
Thune added that Kennedy needs people in key positions who “have some stability and can hopefully command the trust of the American people.”
Thursday’s hearing was scheduled before the CDC shakeup. While Kennedy is coming to testify about Trump’s health agenda, he’s expected to face questions from both sides of the aisle about the turnover.
Kennedy defended the changes during a Fox News interview last week. Though he declined to talk about “personnel issues,” he added that the CDC “is in trouble, and we need to fix it, … and it may be that some people should not be working there anymore.”
Carmen Paun contributed to this report.
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