Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made a declaration before the House Ways and Means Committee, telling lawmakers that President Trump had done more to protect public health than any other president in the nation’s history.
The statement came during a pointed exchange with Rep. Tom Suozzi, who challenged Kennedy on what he described as a mismatch between the administration’s increased defense spending and reductions at health agencies like the NIH and CDC. Kennedy responded without hesitation.
“This president has done more to protect public health than any other president in history,” he said. “You guys are the ones that gave us the chronic disease epidemic. We are the unhealthiest population on the face of the earth.”
Kennedy appeared before the committee to present the president’s fiscal year 2027 budget request. In his opening remarks, he argued the administration had already compiled a record of results.
“Just 15 months at HHS has delivered historic wins,” he said. “We negotiated most favored nation d**g prices in 16 of the large pharma companies so Americans no longer pay more than other people in wealthy countries for the same medications.”
He also pointed to what he called the largest investment in rural health care in the nation’s history.
“The Rural Health Transformation delivers the largest investment in rural health in our nation’s history,” Kennedy said. “$50 billion over five years to strengthen hospitals and ensure Americans can access the care they need, no matter where they live.”
On food policy, Kennedy described a significant overhaul of dietary guidelines, telling the committee that the Biden administration’s version had been 453 pages long and “written by food industry lobbyists.”
“We put together the best nutritionists in this country, from the best universities all over this country, to reform the dietary guidelines and offer for the first time not dogma-based but science-based guidelines,” he said. “Every recommendation is cited from multiple peer-reviewed publications.”
Kennedy also cited progress on maternal health, pointing to a prenatal program operating across 220 hospitals that he said had reduced maternal mortality by 42 percent at participating facilities.
The hearing grew contentious at several points, with Democratic members pressing Kennedy on measles outbreaks, vaccine messaging, and pardons granted to health care fraud convicts. Kennedy largely defended the administration’s direction, framing the effort as a challenge to long-established systems.
“We are ending the era of federal policy fueled chronic disease epidemic and replacing it with policies to put the health of Americans first,” he said.
